Recommendation 11

We asked about progress towards resolving the barriers which industry has repeatedly said need to be addressed if it is to progress the commercial roll-out to reach 80% of UK premises by 2025. The Department said that it is working on this, but Openreach told us that the legislation introduced by the Department so far on access to property is insufficient to “meaningfully tackle the numerous barriers;” for example they told us that it does not address landlords that seek excessive costs.26 Given its responsibility for broadband policy, we pressed the Department on how vigorously it was pursuing the removal of barriers where responsibility rests with another part of government, including changes to planning regulations and the business rate treatment of fibre.27 The Department stated that it was working with the Department for Transport on streetworks, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on planning, but declined to offer any view or reassurance that the matters are being urgently pursued.28