Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBF)

The RCBF was launched in England with confirmed funding of £20m on 29 November 2011.

The first round for Expressions of Interest closed on 31 January 2012. A second round is expected to open in May 2012 and this will be confirmed during March. 

The RCBF is delivered as part of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). The RCBF is jointly funded by Defra and Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and provides grants to communities to establish superfast broadband in hard-to-reach areas.

If you are considering an Expression of Interest for the next round and need some advice, please contact your Local RDPE Delivery Team.

Who can Apply?

You can only apply during an open round. The first round has closed. For future rounds, you can apply if your community is in a rural location identified as being in the 10% hard to reach area covered by your Local Authority's Local Broadband Plan (LBP), or if your LBP is not in place, if you are able to demonstrate that you will be in the 10% of hard to reach areas in your LBP when finalised.

Acting on behalf of a community, eligible applicants can be:

• Social enterprises;
• Community Interest Companies;
• Community trusts;
• Charities;
• Private Businesses (non-Communications Providers); and
• Other formally constituted groups.

This is a rural community scheme. However, Local Authorities (including Parish and District Councils) may also apply on behalf of communities, or act as the managing authority for an application. Where this is the case, there must be a clear demonstration of community engagement and community support for the project.

It is recommended that communities who are interested in applying to the Fund during future rounds should work closely with their Local Authorities in order to understand whether they fall within a 10% hardest to reach area, as will be identified in their Local Broadband Plan. In submitting an Expression of Interest under future rounds, you will need to demonstrate that the project fits with the LBP (either agreed or under development) and the wider Local Authority investment in the area.

You must not commit to works which is specifically related to any Expression Of Interest under the Fund. Grant is paid in arrears so you will need to demonstrate that you have the ability to bankroll the project until such point as the grant is paid to you.

What can be funded under the RCBF?

There is no upper or lower limit to the size of project or grant investment. However, it is likely that below a certain threshold projects will not be economically viable, and projects will be subject to a value for money assessment.

The RCBF will provide up to 50% of total ‘eligible' costs to communities located in hard-to-reach locations who can demonstrate a local need and a demand for superfast broadband, and the ability to make it happen at a reasonable cost.

Eligible costs would include:

• Capital works costs
• Facilitation and technical support costs
• Other service establishment costs, but not ongoing maintenance costs.

You can decide how you want to develop your project taking account of local needs but projects must integrate with the wider Local Broadband Plan to avoid any duplication of funding and to maximise the Government's investment by linking where possible into infrastructure being rolled out under BDUK's national programme.

Under the current RDPE Programme (2007-2013), funding needs to be contracted by 31 December 2013. We will assess early projects on the extent to which a community-led approach is a cost effective way of complementing the mainstream BDUK roll-out programme and bringing superfast broadband to the most hard to reach rural areas. If this is clearly demonstrated, we will explore options for funding and extension of the Fund beyond 2013.

Where can I go for additional information?

BDUK is developing a Rural Community Broadband Toolkit "Community Toolkit" containing material to support the development of local projects, including a Community Data Book. The Toolkit contains a variety of information and pointers to existing guidance and material. Material will be added to the Community Toolkit over time.  

The Community Toolkit also contains a number of possible business models which communities may wish to consider in developing their plans for projects under future rounds. Each model of involvement will require a gradual increase in community commitment to match the difficulty and expense of serving customers in remote areas. The Community Toolkit will provide more information on each approach.

Your local Rural Community Action Network representative (RCAN) should be able to discuss potential projects with you. They will be able to talk you through the application process and the information required to support an application under future rounds such as the Community Data Book. Your local RCAN contact details can be found on the ACRE website http://www.acre.org.uk/about-rcan or via Tel: 01285 653477.

We have drawn up a Frequently Asked Questions Document and it is hoped that this material will answer many of your questions in the first instance. If you have more questions, or a proposed project for future rounds under the Fund, please contact your Local RDPE Delivery Team.