Super-Connected Cities Project
Proposal
template
Guidance on the Application Process is available at: www.dcms.gov.uk
Bids should be no more than twenty-five pages long. In addition, you may append
ma
pping information and project plans.
December 2011
Proposal Template Super-Connected Cities V2.0
Our aim is to improve the quality of life for all through cultural and
sporting activities, support the pursuit of excellence, and champion the
tourism, creative and leisure industries.
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CONTENTS
NOTES ON COMPLETING THE APPLICATION FORM
APPLICANT INFORMATION
SECTION A – SHORT-FORM BUSINESS CASE
SECTION B– DIGITAL-LED ECONOMIC GROWTH
SECTION C – COMMITMENT OF RESOURCES
SECTION D - STIMULATING TAKE UP & DEMAND
SECTION E – STREAMLINING PLANNING PROCESSES
SECTION F – COMPLIANCE WITH STATE AID RULES
SECTION G– FUNDING
SECTION H – DELIVERY
SIGN OFF
NOTES ON COMPLETING THIS FORM.
1. Throughout the form ‘superfast’ means broadband with a headline download speed of at least
24Mbps (megabits
per second). ‘Ultra-fast’ means broadband with a headline download speed
of at least 100Mbps, with no upper limit. ‘Ultra-fast’ includes technologies, principally fibre to
the cabinet (FTTC), that are capable of up to 80Mbps and are ultimately up-gradable to
100Mbps.
2. The format of this form should be followed and the answers to all questions made clear for
assessment purposes.
3. Applications should be sent to DCMS by 10am on 13 February 2012. Proposals ideally should
not exceed twenty-five pages in length. In addition, mapping information and essential
diagrams may be supplied, but no other supplementary material will be considered.
Three hard copies of proposals, maps and diagrams should be sent to:
Ms Susan Hawker
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
2-4 Cockspur Street
London
SW1Y 5DH
Envelopes should be marked:
‘Submission for Ultrafast Broadband Fund’.
An electronic copy should also be submitted to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx
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APPLICANT INFORMATION
Project Name: Its Super Connected, Its Liverpool
Lead organisation - include address with postcode:
Liverpool City Council
Office of the Chief Executive
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool
L2 2DH
Lead Contact Details (Name) and position held: Lisa Smith
Senior Policy Officer
Contact telephone number:
0151 225 2404
Email address:
xxxx.xxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Postal address:
Office of the Chief Executive
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool
L2 2DH
If the bid is a joint proposal, please enter the names of all participating bodies and specify the co-
ordinating authority Not applicable.
Proposed start Date of Project: (Wednesday/21st March/2012)
Proposed end Date of Project: (Tuesday/31st March/2015)
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SECTION A – SHORT-FORM BUSINESS CASE
A1. Define the strategic objectives, measures of success and targets of the proposal with respect
to:
A1.1 Economic growth
Strategic Objectives
The City of Liverpool has a population of approximately 450,000 and sits at the heart of the wider
City Region, providing the main driver of growth for a population of over 1.5million. Liverpool
generates 45% of Merseyside’s GVA and is home to substantial economic assets and opportunities.
Liverpool’s economic renaissance in the last decade has been remarkable: GVA growth of 70.4%
(1997-2009) has outpaced the UK and Core Cities average; the city’s GVA per head has risen from
90.2% to 99.1% of the UK average between 1997 and 2009; the city has created an additional
17,000 jobs since 1998 and this 8.5% jobs growth (1998-2010) has also outpaced the UK and Core
Cities average growth rate.
Building on this substantial economic and jobs growth in the City over the past decade, the City has
an ambitious growth plan, utilising new powers in the Localism Act, taking forward a strong
leadership model and ensuring that our approach to investment and funding will leverage
substantial investment from the private sector.
Liverpool has a vision to create “A Distinctive Global City” with an economic growth strategy
designed to:
Accelerate the rate of economic growth;
Improve productivity, and
Rebalance the economy.
As part of Liverpool’s City Deal, the Government has agreed a joint plan for investment in the City,
focused on the establishment of a Mayoral Development Corporation with a new Enterprise Zone
for the City Fringe and commercial district area and 5 further Mayoral Development Zones.
It makes sense to us to focus our investment in digital and mobile connectivity within this
framework and concentrate our investment where we will see the greatest return in terms of jobs,
economic and business growth and where the greatest synergy can be achieved.
Our geographic focus is therefore a contiguous area (See Map 1 in Appendix 1), taking in the new
Enterprise Zone with its focus on green technology and low carbon developments (such as the
Combined Heat and Power development), alongside our digital and creative quarter, knowledge
quarter, central business district and key visitor destinations, including the world heritage site
waterfront, major cultural institutions and the Liverpool One retail destination.
Within this area are substantial planned developments, which will drive forward jobs and economic
growth. Our digital connectivity proposals will add value and future proof these wider substantial
investments in the area.
Alongside these areas of major economic opportunity sit some of the most deprived
neighbourhoods in England (see Map 4 in Appendix 1) and a key element of our proposals will be to
ensure digital connectivity can support those communities to access the economic growth
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opportunities available to them. The delivery of public services in new ways can be underpinned by
the connectivity of residents, in particular those in our most deprived neighbourhoods
The city has world class capabilities in life sciences, low carbon technology, financial and
professional services, outsourcing, and in digital and creative industries. These sectors are
supported and driven by the international research and facilities of the city’s three universities and
the talented graduates they produce. Liverpool’s visitor economy, supported by its unique and
growing cultural offer, is also playing an increasing part in driving its economy.
Objectives, Measures of success and targets
By focusing on these key economic drivers, we believe we can increase GVA for the City and job
creation. Quantifying these benefits has been an area of some debate. However, recent research
reviewed by Adroit on behalf of e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for ICT, suggests that increased
broadband speeds coupled with increased penetration – a quadrupling of speeds matched by a 10%
increase in take up, a conservative reflection of what may be achieved in the wider bid area - can
boost GVA by 1.6% over a two year period. Applying these figures to the UBF project area suggests
additional GVA directly attributable to the deployment of faster broadband of £56m over two
years, with the potential to create 1400 (estimated at 2012 prices). Further measures of the impact
of take up and use of more advanced ICT by firms predict that over the period to 2020, GVA in the
project area would rise by £371m – 4.2% of Liverpool’s total GVA at 2009 levels.
Applying these figures to the UBF project area suggests additional GVA directly attributable to the
deployment of faster broadband of £56m over two years, potentially creating 1400 jobs at 2012
prices.
In support of these objectives we will achieve the following:
1. An innovative flagship development for the EZ and City Centre area with FTTP deployment for
speeds upwards of 100Mbpand approaching 1Gbps for up to 3000 businesses.
2. Optimise the deployment of wireless connectivity for the core zone covering a population of
over 100,000 people, 30 million annual visitors (including 2 million staying visitors), 4800
businesses and over 130,000 jobs making available existing public assets to facilitate this. This
could include standard wi-fi to support for example, opportunities to grow the visitor economy
but will also take into account other technologies and frequencies (e.g. 4G/LTE).
3. Co-ordination and infill of those areas not currently planned to be served by the ultrafast
broadband offer across the City, ensuring no “not spots” to support the digital inclusion agenda.
The Ultrafast evolution plan summary is shown in the Table below.
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A1.2 Take-up of broadband services
Our plans have clear strategic objectives to achieve 50%take up of ultrafast broadband services
across all sectors (businesses, residents and visitors) by 2020. The table at 1.1 (above) summarises
what will be delivered already through the market and the barriers that exist to the wider roll out of
ultrafast broadband both in the target areas and in neighbourhoods across the City.
Ofcom states that Liverpool City Council currently has 77% of superfast broadband availability (24
Mbps+ connections) from BT, Virgin and other retail ISPs. The take-up is currently 59% with an
average speed of 9.5Mbps – slightly above the urban average of 8.8 Mbps. The percentage of the
Liverpool population receiving less than 2Mbps is 6.6%.
In line with Liverpool’s objectives to increase the competitiveness of its SMEs, increasing GVA and
employment, boost the visitor economy and to increase social inclusion by ensuring that every
citizen has the opportunity to participate fully in a range on online services and activities, our
intervention will look to act on four levels with the aim of making Liverpool the first UK city to meet
the target of having 50% of its people and businesses accessing 100 Mbps+ connections before
2020:
In line with the emerging Liverpool City Region Local Broadband Plan and working in
conjunction with the Liverpool City Region BDUK group, look to complete FTTC in-fill to extend
superfast services, and with it the potential to adopt fibre overlay services, to 95%+ of premises
Work with the private sector to stimulate and aggregate demand for FTTP in the target area for
the bid in order to make most efficient and targeted use of any UBF monies to reduce ECC and
to ensure that as many businesses as can benefit from 100 Mbps+ connections choose to access
these services
Extend existing access duct infrastructure in key target areas of the city – its Enterprise Zone,
Commercial District, Knowledge Quarter, Ropewalks and the Baltic Triangle – to allow for the
development of a competitive market in uncontended, open access fibre connections
By means of a tender, stimulate the development of a wireless ‘mesh’ across the target area
and beyond to give: the immediate opportunity to stimulate the visitor economy by offering
free Wifi services across the City Centre, with potential to upgrade those to 4G once spectrum is
made available through auction; an extra option to ‘in-fill’ provision of superfast broadband to
properties where the market will not provide (in turn potentially reducing costs of other in-fill
schemes for FTTC); and a stimulus to the development of 4G networks across the City, whose
benefits are enumerated in more detail below, but which would form a significant element of
measures to address social exclusion and to stimulate innovation in and reduce costs of online
delivery of public services.
Through a combination of these measures, we would look to move take up of ultrafast broadband
services amongst residents, businesses and the City’s 30 million visitors per annum to above 50%
before 2020.
A1.3 Social objectives
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Liverpool is ranked as the most deprived local authority area in England (Indices of Multiple
Deprivation 2010) and its position has remained unchanged from the 2004 and 2007 Indices. Over
50% of Liverpool’s communities are among the 10% most deprived in England and around 12% of
the city’s communities are among the 1% most deprived.
The two largest clusters of severe deprivation in the city (1% most deprived in England) sit to north
(Everton/Kirkdale Anfield) and south (Princes Park/Toxteth) of the city centre (see Map 4 in
Appendix). Both of these areas are within the UBF area and are highlighted in red on Map 4.
Around 60% of the area is in the 1% most deprived nationally and nearly 80% of the area is in the
5% most deprived.
Liverpool’s Superconnected Cities proposal tackles these issues of deprivation and exclusion head
on. Addressing digital exclusion in the wider UFB project area will result in a number of social
benefits, coupled with public sector cost savings. Using a model developed by Adroit for e-skills UK,
the Sector Skills Council for ICT, in Section C4 below we demonstrate the potential impact of
investment in broadband on outcomes for education, employment and health, and savings in the
cost of delivery of social services, as well as for the productivity and growth of businesses.
Provision of backhaul for future 4G wireless networks, facilitated by inclusion of public and
University assets in a competitive open tender, offers the possibility to extend connectivity at or
better than the EC Broadband target to over 100,000 residents, including those in Liverpool’s most
deprived and ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. Levels of fixed line take up in those areas are
amongst the lowest in the UK.
The proposed scheme offers multiple benefits to these districts:
Inclusion in economic opportunities increasingly dependent on access to broadband
connections, including employment in the neighbouring Enterprise Zone and commercial
district, and the opportunity to create new social enterprises meeting needs within the
community.
The ability to participate in a transformational shift of a range of public services (health, social
care, welfare, education) to online delivery
Access to a full range of cultural and entertainment offers to reduce the sense of social
exclusion.
The opportunity to ‘skip’ a stage in technology development in moving to 4G without incurring
the risk of redundant investment in fixed line superfast broadband services and equipment
A1.4 Other local objectives
Local Objectives
To develop future proof networks
Liverpool’s bid for Superconnected City status is based on a number of core principles:
That any public investment should optimise provision of ultrafast broadband for both business
and residential consumers through a ubiquitous FTTP network delivering as a minimum 100
Mbps synchronous connections in the short term and offering rising bandwidths into the future,
with 1 Gbps as the long term sustainable target
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This should support, be co-ordinated with and, wherever possible, share ducting and other
infrastructure with other utilities required to enable a Smart City (see below)
Any infrastructure resulting from public sector intervention should be operated on a fully open
access basis
Investment, deployment and operation of network infrastructure should be led by the private
sector. This may comprise a single investor, several competing investors, or one or more
consortia of investors. The role of the City Council and local partners should be to enable and
facilitate the optimisation of private sector investment
Whilst the City Council may enter into joint venture or public/private partnership in order to
secure best value for the commitment of any asset on a Market Economy Investor Principle, the
vast majority of investment should be expected to come from the private sector. Any grant
available from the public sector can represent only a fraction of the total cost of delivering a
comprehensive and competitive infrastructure and market environment
This is an ambitious vision, backed by a strategic process of market engagement. The costs of
achieving it are large, and beyond the resource made available within this bid alone. The City
Council has therefore established a number of intermediate objectives toward its long term goal:
Ubiquitous availability of 80-100 Mbps services at prices ranging from £35 - £50 pcm across the
City of Liverpool by March 2015. This links to a wider ambition in the emerging Broadband Plan
for Liverpool City Region to ensure that the same investment principles are applied to any
tender involving BDUK funding for white areas in order to achieve near ubiquitous ultrafast
coverage across the whole region
As a minimum, adherence to the EC broadband target by which all citizens have access to 30
Mbps services by 2020 with 50% accessing connections of 100 Mbps or better.
To support the development of Smart City
The proposed £5.5 billion redevelopment of Liverpool’s docklands includes a significant investment
in renewable energy generation. The City is looking to capitalise on this initiative to make Liverpool
the UK’s first truly ‘Smart City’, encompassing Smart Grid infrastructure and a range of
interconnected public services. A distinctive element of Liverpool’s Superconnected Cities bid,
therefore, is the provision of multifunction utility ducting that will contain not only the optic fibres
required to achieve the long term objective of ubiquitous, open access broadband at speeds up to
1Gbps, but also the other energy and water utilities required for operation of a Smart Grid. This will
accelerate and underpin a transformation of public infrastructure unmatched in any UK city since
the Victorian era. In connecting the Enterprise Zone to the commercial heart of the City it will
stimulate demand and private investment to make good the historic market failures experienced by
areas immediately North of the city centre.
A2. Set out the rationale for public investment:
A2.1 What are the specific needs you are addressing?
Public investment is required to address the current market gaps and enhance the commercial offer
through the expansion of capacity and capability of the open access infrastructure within the City to
both existing businesses and new businesses to be encouraged to the area. The public investment
will provide a long term sustainable model of investment that will utilise the returns from that
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investment to continue economic growth and rebalance the economy. Reducing the productivity
gap and increasing the growth of the economy is integral to this project, in addition to providing
services in a far more efficient and effective way, both bringing economic and social benefits.
An enhanced open network infrastructure should provide a positive outturn on business capacity
and growth within the City. This will assist existing businesses and business growth but also attract
new and additional inward investment. Such networks also deliver ubiquitous coverage in areas
where private companies might not be able to develop and operate public broadband networks.
Enhanced services are derived whereby the public and businesses can benefit from a greater
diversity of value-added products.
Public investment in the infrastructure network has the advantage of being able to take a longer
term view and provide a sustainable investment product. Applying the Market Economy Investor
Principle to the public investment (through an OJEU open and competitive procurement process)
will attract and secure significant private sector investment and leverage into the City, thus
resulting in a much wider investment fund. An investment model that combines public investment
into the infrastructure to facilitate development of broadband networks will allow private
companies to run it and deliver services such as IPTV, telephony and Internet access creating a
competitive environment where the network owner does not determine which services consumers
can receive.
A2.2 Have all options to meet these needs by the stimulation and encouragement of private
sector investment been explored?
The City is continuing to explore options with major providers and to more fully understand their
planned investments. However, even given that this information is not easily available due to
commercial confidentiality, existing plans do not go far enough to meet the existing and future
needs of the city. Demand can be seen as being derived in two ways; identified demand and
“intelligent supply”. The first relates to express market signals and the second relates to provision
that stimulates demand. It is clear from documented engagement with key private sector
developers undertaken as part of the RGF 2 process that demand does exist for these services but
at a transparent service level and cost. In terms of future proofing the investments being made
both by the public and private sector in the area, there is a clear need to adopt an intelligent supply
approach which can effectively plan the best possible digital connectivity into the developments,
which ensures their future demands can be met in a sustainable way. The private sector is unable
to respond to these needs.
It is evident therefore, that there is a current market failure and thus it is not commercially viable
for private investors to meet the current needs of the market and our identified future
requirements. The public investment seeks to fill in that short fall and enhance the offer within the
City, encouraging the private sector to invest against commercial principles.
There has been significant soft market testing into the needs of the City and there is clear demand
for enhanced services. The issue is one of commercial returns for the providers. Not only will an
enhanced network allow the business base of the City to grow, but also potentially unlocks
additional significant long term private investment through stimulating the market.
Discussions are continuing to be explored with major network providers and encouragement of
private sector investment will be examined in detail through OJEU open procurement process. It is
evident that there is private sector appetite to work in parallel with the public investment and thus
provide a hybrid investment model to meet the needs of the City.
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A2.3 What resources and skills are you uniquely placed to contribute to the project?
The City Council is uniquely placed to drive forward this agenda and its proposals to move towards
a mayoral governance model add weight to the leadership role required to drive forward this
proposal with the private sector.
A commitment has already been made as part of the City Deal to develop a Mayoral Investment
Plan for the City. Our proposals to be a Super connected City will sit within this plan and will be
overseen by those governance arrangements and joint sign off with Government. Responsibility for
economic development and in particular the Enterprise Zone will rest with the Mayor ensuring clear
ownership and leadership for the proposal.
In addition, it has been agreed to establish a Mayoral Investment Fund as a single pot for
investment, which incorporates key funding streams, receives revenue from retained business rates
and which seeks to ensure the highest possible levels of private sector investment in the fund.
Urban Broadband Funding will sit within this model and benefit from the leverage and wider private
sector investment which will take place.
Liverpool City Council and its Joint Venture Partner Liverpool Direct Limited have considerable
experience in successfully delivering large complex programmes of work involving financial
management of large publicly funded programmes, Consultancy, Project Management,
Procurement, Technical Design, Service Design and Solution Architecture.
LCC has a dedicated Programmes Team which over the last 10 years has successfully managed
funding in excess of £500million of EU and UK grants. The team consists of senior staff members
with extensive experience in the legal and financial management of large publicly funded
programmes (e.g. RGF, SRB, NDC, HMRI, ESF, ERDF, NRF). It includes qualified auditors and grant
appraisers alongside legal and European funding specialists. The Programmes Team can also draw
on the support of specialist colleagues from other LCC and Liverpool Direct Limited service areas
such as procurement (UK and European Procurement regulations e.g. Official Journal of the
European Union), legal (e.g. State Aid Regulations), finance and the central policy unit.
All Programme Managers are PRINCE2 and MSP certified, Senior ICT staff are ITILv3 Accredited and
Solution Architects are TOGAF v9 Accredited.
In order to ensure that the activities of the Liverpool UBF Programme meet the objectives of the
fund and comply with due diligence, Liverpool Direct Limited and Liverpool City Council will operate
a Programme System. This will operate within the stringent confines of internal financial
regulations.
Examples of successful programmes include:
DEFRA call centre provision.
Security Industry Authority relocation of document handling centre to Liverpool.
Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool £164 million financed by Liverpool City Council, English
Partnerships (now the Homes and Communities Agency), the Northwest Regional Development
Agency and European (ERDF) funding..
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The £1bn Liverpool One project was the largest retail-led regeneration project in Europe. The
scheme, covering 42 acres provided 1.5m sq ft of retail space as well as hotels, apartments, a
multi-screen cinema and restaurants.
Edge Lane is one of the main gateway routes into the city centre. It is currently undergoing a
£65m improvement scheme which will transform the route from the M62 to the city centre.
The Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone is one of four UK Enterprise Zones announced in March
2011. LCC along with Wirral MBC are leading on the implementation of the EZ on behalf the
Liverpool LEP and Peel Holdings who own the site.
LCC has a successful track record of developing and maintaining innovative public-private
partnerships with a wide range of organisations for example:
2020Ltd, a partnership between Mouchel and LCC, delivering professional services relating to
property, highways and public realm to clients in the public and private sector,
LCC joint venture with BT for Liverpool Direct Limited that delivers IT service, contact centre,
one stop shops, human resources, payroll, revenues and benefits and Careline social care
service. .
LCC joint venture with Enterprise for Enterprise Liverpool that delivers BPR, full environmental
services (street and refuse) and highways maintenance.
LCC joint venture with Sigma Capital Group currently involved in regeneration project Norris
Green Village, where 178 homes are being built for sale and rent as part of the initial
regeneration phase of the 63 acre site.
A3. Outline the information, education and demand-stimulation (consumers, business, public
sector and third sector) activities to be undertaken (more detail should be given in Section D).
Since August 2011, Liverpool City Council in conjunction with Liverpool Vision and its partners and
have been undertaking significant demand stimulation and education activity across Liverpool. This
is in response to ONS data which shows that approximately 92,000 people who live in the city (out
of a population of 450,000) have never been online.
The work done to date by the Go ON it’s Liverpool campaign (which arose out of the Government’s
Race Online initiative) will be taken forward and expanded by providing targeted support to the
people and businesses most at need in order to use resources most effectively, as follows:
Reduce the number of people socially and digitally excluded in Liverpool from 69% to the
national average of 40%.
50% of all off-liners in Liverpool live in social housing so the Go ON it’s Liverpool campaign has
specifically targeted partnerships with Registered Social Landlords as a key channel to secure
the greatest impact.
Target businesses - with the goal to increase the number of businesses by between 6,000 and
9,000 new small and medium enterprises to enable the city to compete successfully with their
competitors and encourage economic growth.
Examples of actions that have been and will be taken to achieve these goals include:
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Continuing to recruit Go ON it’s Liverpool Digital Champions – 5,000 digital champions targeted
who can be family members, friends and/or neighbours, that can offer support to new users
with their first steps online by mentoring others to use a pc and access the internet
Increasing the number and range of local places where people offline can get support – e.g.
working with Registered Social Landlords, Chamber of Commerce, Police information kiosks and
Unions.
Improving digital infrastructure and removing affordability as a barrier – providing cheap PCs,
staged payments etc.
Continuing the strong local marketing/ PR campaign for Go ON it’s Liverpool and the BBC Give
an Hour campaigns.
Liverpool Vision has recently recruited a team of Business Growth Managers, whose responsibility
will be to identify and work with local SMEs that demonstrate the capacity to grow and create jobs.
In this, we recognise that one of the key factors in stimulating business growth is the willingness
and ability of businesses to take advantage of new developments in communications technology,
both to respond to customer demand and to take advantage of new markets. We have therefore
ensured that all of our managers are fully conversant with the latest developments in broadband
technology, and link in closely to Liverpool Vision’s Creative & Digital specialists as appropriate.
In addition to this, Liverpool will recruit – subject to anticipated ERDF approval in March 2012 – a
specialist ICT Manager, whose role will be to work with local businesses that are able to effect a
step change in their productivity through better use of ICT. This manager will be part of the general
business support team and will ensure that increased web based ability within businesses is a
natural part of the city’s business support offering.
Both of these services will complement the new Business Coaching for Growth service, which will
concentrate business support on those businesses that have the capacity to grow at more than 20%
year on year.
Having worked closely with Google over 2011 to encourage small businesses to take full advantage
of internet based technology – over 1,000 local SMEs attended one to one training sessions with
Google – Liverpool Vision is continuing to work with Google and local partners on its legacy
programme, that will put in place a structured programme of web based training to underline to
SMEs the importance of web based services in the growth of their businesses. This training will
cover all businesses, from those using web based technology for the first time, to businesses
wishing to build upon a solid track record of on line trading.
A4. What new infrastructure does your proposal require?
A4.1 Fixed. (Fibre, cable, &c)
Our vision is to provide a range of access levels to all areas identified in the bid. Each access level
will allow focused delivery of a particular type of service to particular areas being cognisant of the
requirements, drivers and benefits that this will provide to the area. The Infrastructure required to
facilitate these Access types is explained below.
Access 1 - Superfast 24Mbps – This level of coverage is currently at 77% which provides around
310,000 residents across Liverpool with superfast connectivity. We expect this to be 100% by 2015,
Where this will not be achieved through further investment and planned works from our two key
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telecoms providers, BT and Virgin Media, any gaps in this provision would ordinarily be addressed
by BDUK infill. However,
s43(2)
– the totality of the Liverpool City
Region BDUK indicative award – so we will look to use the MEIP tender and a mix of solutions,
including sub-loop unbundling, use of BT poles and 4G wireless, to extend private provision (and
opportunities to access fibre-based products) to move close to 100% of premises.
Access 2 – Ultrafast 80Mbps to 100Mbps – The entire Contiguous zone identified for this bid will
receive Ultrafast Broadband by 2015. We will work with service providers to ensure that an open
access FTTC provision is provided across the whole area at postcode level, thereby providing
guaranteed performance for the whole area. Part of the UBF will be used to accelerate the planned
implementation of the Fibre Overlay programme, by working with providers to aggregate demand
and removing uncertainty about ECC from individual businesses, to ensure that even greater speeds
will be available in these areas.
Access 3 – Uncontended fibre connectivity – This will be provided to key areas within the
Contiguous Zone by the implementation of new access ducting to further extend the existing spine
duct infrastructure. We aim to provide open access, diversely routed ducting to targeted areas. This
ducting will be terminated in chambers which will service the newly designated Enterprise Zone
area effectively eliminating the cost of targeted areas. Any redevelopment undertaken in the area
will fund the Chamber to Cabinet civil works with assisted way leave. This will facilitate FTTP
connectivity with no excess charging.
Several ‘Incubation’ areas have also been identified in buildings with a high density of business,
which will benefit from the creation of dedicated Fibre provision and civils works.
The UBF fund will contribute towards an additional 3 Kilometres of ducting 60 access chambers and
the installation of additional ducting to provide access to specific postcodes with a high density of
businesses within the target areas.
Access 4 – Wireless 4G; Ubiquitous wireless coverage will be implemented in the area highlighted in
the plans this will be extended further following a tender to find a supplier to deliver 4G capability
in the residential areas abutting the areas of Ultrafast provisioning. This access will be assisted by
the improved backhaul infrastructure being implemented and the use of City Council and University
owned ducting. The UBF will be utilised to fund fibre delivery to key Access points in the city to
provide Mesh or cell based provision of a 802.11n based network which will support Wifi Wireless,
3G and 4G deployments offering greater performance, more range, and improved reliability.
UBF grant will be used to provide the provision of backhaul infrastructure to facilitate FTTP to all
businesses and potentially deliver incubation-type provision to multi-tenanted buildings.
Alongside investment that both BT and Virgin Media are putting into the designated zones, plus the
expansion of existing ducting, we aim to create an open network for multiple suppliers to provide
FTTP without the need for significant civil works and capital investment. This best value approach
will drive demand stimulation and offer a range of competitively priced services across the network
infrastructure.
In essence this will provide ultrafast broadband to the premise offering speeds in excess of
100Mbps. The long term goal is to provide a ubiquitous FTTP open access network delivering 1Gbps
or more to the designated areas; on a par with global competitors such as Singapore. This would
optimise retail competition, enabling a range of competitive and transparently priced broadband
service offers to businesses (especially to SMEs), to all households and to public services. This
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combination is essential for the continued competitiveness of the Liverpool City Region economy,
its quality of life and public services.
This programme will deliver connectivity to the areas identified in the plan, along with all
residential premises in the City.
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A4.2 Wireless connectivity.
The options table above shows that deployment of a range of wireless technologies is integral to
Liverpool’s move to Superconnected City status. This will be achieved by means of a tender that
makes available existing public assets – including street furniture and existing fibre ducting under
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public or University ownership – as part of a scheme to stimulate investment in enhanced FTTP
assets whilst providing a minimum 1 Gbps backhaul network to access points across the UBF area
and out into those neighbourhoods covered by the wider Ultrafast Broadband Fund bid.
From the tender, the City Council will enter into a contract with a private sector partner to build,
operate and maintain the network for an agreed period. The additional backhaul required to
support 4G/LTE, for example, may well justify private sector investment in considerable amounts of
new duct that could be integrated with and are integral to plans to improve FTTP access. In return
for the commercial benefits associated with this – a revenue opportunity that soft market testing
has demonstrated has the potential to greatly increase the level of investment offered by private
sector operators – the City will require that an amount of free wifi provision is made in the central
visitor and retail districts.
The wireless infrastructure will require open access fibre and power ‘to the lamppost’ to allow the
mounting of suitable access points. These points will allow multiple vendors and wireless operating
companies to offer a range of commercial wireless and Wifi provision, including 3G and 4G/LTE
services, on the basis of an open and transparent rate card.
4G will enable SMEs both in the EZ and target economic development zones to access enterprise
class synchronous connections in the short to medium term where ducting does not exist and
before fibre overlay pricing is known. In the wider UBF bid area,
s43(2)
. The UBF bid area includes 90% of Liverpool’s areas of greatest digital exclusion,
where there is a longstanding resistance to adoption of fixed line broadband but high take up of
mobile services – through providing ubiquitous access to wireless solutions that will meet the EC
broadband target of 100% access at 30Mbps by 2020, Liverpool will have a unique opportunity to
reshape its employment and service offer to these communities.
A5. Define the area(s) over which ultra-fast or superfast broadband is to be delivered:
A5.1
By existing networks and already-announced rollouts by existing communications
service providers
The areas that will receive Wireless and Ultrafast coverage can be seen in Maps 1 and 2, and Aerial
Photo 1 found in the appendix to this bid.
s43(2)
Page | 17
s43(2)
They have also completed successful trials of “FTTP on demand” in St Agnes, Cornwall which allows
additional fibre to be run on demand to a home or business in a FTTC enabled area, providing the
customer with ultra-fast – which will soon offer end users speeds of up to 300Mbps - FTTP
broadband
s43(2)
A5.2
By investment in in-fill (areas not covered by commercial suppliers)
18 | P a g e
s43(2)
In line with the
emerging Liverpool City Region Local Broadband Plan and working in conjunction with the Liverpool
City Region BDUK group, we are planning to complete FTTC in-fill to extend superfast services, and
with it the potential to adopt fibre overlay services, to 95%+ of all premises.
This will be achieved by a combination of Public Duct and dark fibre provision coupled with an
investment of £5m as part of our BDUK broadband plan which will incentivise commercial suppliers
to in-fill Fibre backhaul and FTTC provision to all areas.
We will work with the private sector to stimulate and aggregate demand for FTTP in the target area
for the bid in order to make most efficient and targeted use of any UBF monies to reduce ECC and
to ensure that as many businesses as can benefit from 100 Mbps+ connections choose to access
these services
Ultrafast provision in the form of FTTP based services will be implemented to achieve 100%
coverage of the key economic areas targeted, this will be enabled by civil works for FTTP, further
backhaul infrastructure enhancements and funding to minimise the effects of Excess Construction
Charges.
A5.3
By new networks
More than 13 kilometres of additional ducting and fibre will be commissioned to complement the
existing, extensive Council and University owned duct network. This will provide an Open Access
duct network which will stimulate further private investment and service delivery. This extended
infrastructure will provide a dedicated duct infrastructure to key economic target areas of the city –
its Enterprise Zone, Commercial District, Knowledge Quarter, Ropewalks and the Baltic Triangle – to
allow for the development of a competitive market in uncontended, open access fibre connections.
s43(2)
ultrafast and
better speeds will be available by the end of 2014
A5.4
Wireless connectivity
The extended Duct infrastructure and fibre provisioning to existing street furniture in the city will
provide 1,410 wireless (802.11n) Access points which will be capable of delivering WiFi 3G and 4G
LTE services from multiple providers.
Building on these public assets we intend to stimulate the development of a wireless ‘mesh’ across
the target area and beyond. By means of a tender, we will look to optimise the deployment of
wireless connectivity for the UBF area covering a population of 100,000 people, 30 million annual
visitors (including 2 million staying visitors) and over 130,000 jobs.
With potential to upgrade these to 4G once the spectrum is made available through auction, this
offers a further option to ‘in-fill’ provision of superfast broadband to properties where the market
will not provide (in turn potentially reducing costs of other in-fill schemes for FTTC); and a stimulus
to the development of 4G networks across the City which would form a significant element of
measures to address social exclusion and to stimulate innovation in and reduce costs of online
delivery of public services.
As part of our soft marketing testing discussions, mobile providers have indicated a willingness to
work in partnership with the City Council to develop a commercial model by which the providers
Page | 19
would pay the City Council a revenue sum to utilise these assets, which both enhances
sustainability and ensures best value for the use of any public asset made available. Models such as
these include Virgin Metro, which is a cell-based wireless provision utilising the street furniture for
access point mounting. These access points are then serviceable by multiple providers.
The City Council will enter into a contract with a partner to build, operate and maintain the network
for an agreed period. A requirement would be that the operator should provide an amount of free
access service. The commercial model will be one that best meets the needs of citizens and the
tourist economy. The City Council’s aim is to provide a free-to-use service. For this to be viable
there will be a commercial approach in which subsided funding is contributed by mobile providers
(revenue for using street furniture), local retailers and tourist venues.
A6. What funding from the Ultrafast Broadband Fund are you requesting? (Details in Section G.)
Liverpool is seeking
s43(2) of Urban Broadband Funding, matched with a potential further
s43(2) of
other public funding (RGF, BDUK, ERDF and Growing Places Funding). This brings the total public
investment in capital infrastructure to
s43(2) as outlined in section G.
A7. Briefly set out what additional funds will be contributed to the project (more detail to be
given in Section G):
A7.1 by Local Authorities
Additional funding is shown below in the summary table. Aside from the dedicated funding for
capital costs, the costs of implementation and management of the scheme will be met through the
Local Authority and we have detailed separately those resources we can currently identify for
demand stimulation activities.
s43(2)
A7.2 from the EU
ERDF totalling £3m is being sought for capital costs. The position will not be clarified until May/June
when the final project allocations are agreed and any virement of resources takes place with the
European Commission. This will be taken forward together with the BDUK funding.
20 | P a g e
ERDF resource of
s43(2) has been secured to take forward dedicated ICT business support work
over the period to 2014, together with business support activities which will deliver the required
level of demand stimulation to support the project.
s43(2)
A7.3 by other partners.
We will ensure a significant private sector investment into the Liverpool UBF project. This is not yet
determined until the tendering process has been complete and any deal negotiated under the
Market Investor Economy Principle. Our funding table in section g outlines the expected level of
private sector resource.
Over the coming months, we will work will our business support partners including the Chamber of
Commerce and Commercial District Partnership (a Business Improvement District) to develop and
define their contribution to the project.
A8.
Any physical resources the city or its partners are contributing to the project. (Details in
Section C.)
In terms of physical resources, the City and its partners will contribute:
Its existing ducting network which is used for the Councils wide area traffic, CCTV and intelligent
signalling networks. More than 13km of new ducting will also be provided.
Its street furniture, over 1400 lampposts will be enabled allowing wireless access points to be
installed,. Any other appropriate street furniture will be made available as required.
Additional capability will be made available but the use of designated publically owned
buildings potentially providing higher powered transmitters
Access to its adopted road network and existing chambers
More information on this can be found in Section C.
Additionally, the University of Liverpool has indicated that it will make available on commercial
terms its duct network and access to its estate for location of masts, etc. as part of any asset
offered up by tender as part of this project.
Page | 21
SECTION B – DIGITAL-LED ECONOMIC GROWTH
Demonstrate an ambitious vision for growth. In particular:
B1. What job creation initiatives and strategies for attracting new businesses into the city are in
your proposal including, where relevant, linkage to the delivery of a successful Enterprise
Zone?
The City Deal and Enterprise Zone…
Liverpool’s proposal to be a super –connected city sets investment in ultrafast connectivity into a
much wider context of economic drivers and investments, capable of driving forward economic
growth and the creation of jobs in the City and City Region. It sits alongside and reinforces the
ambitions of the City Deal agreed with Government, the first to be agreed nationally. At the heart
of the Super Connected Cities proposal sits our City Enterprise Zone and other key economic drivers
and so there is the clear opportunity to reinforce these investments with the digital connectivity of
world class standards. Over £11bn of investment is planned for this area over the next 20 years (see
Appendix 2), a conservative estimate and so the potential for digital connectivity is enormous.
The Government recognises Liverpool’s growth potential and Prime Minister David Cameron
recently stated “(I am) keen to tap into the energy and enthusiasm there is in Liverpool for
regeneration”1. In their report “Rebalancing Britain: Policy or Slogan”, Lord Heseltine and Sir Terry
Leahy set out the potential of the City Region and included ambitious proposals to develop
broadband connectivity and wireless connectivity in the commercial district and North Liverpool.
The City is responding to those proposals and has developed an ambitious programme for UBF
which can take forward those recommendations and add value to planned investments.
Digital connectivity is one piece of the larger programme of investments to transform the city,
create jobs and attract new businesses. This proposal is focused on the area of the City newly
designated as an Enterprise Zone and covers the commercial district of the City Centre and the City
Fringe Buffer Zone, already in receipt of considerable investment through its successful award of
RGF2 resources. Investment in broadband connectivity in the Enterprise Zone alone will reinforce a
wider programme of investment stimulated through RGF2 of over
s43(2) , creating 1,780 direct jobs
and over 2,200 indirect jobs. The area is already a focus for site acquisition, inward investment and
is developing opportunities within the low carbon energy sector. There are major transformational
projects being developed including Stanley Dock, Pall Mall and a CHP / energy hub and other major
inward investment packages being developed around the potential for attracting the Green
Investment bank such as the green deal, International Expo, the retrofit of heritage buildings,
1 Yorkshire Pos
t http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-
section/cameron_backing_for_city_mayors_1_3894457
22 | P a g e
Investment bank such as the green deal, International Expo, the retrofit of heritage buildings,
energy generation (including from a tidal barrage), smart grid and clean river proposals. Offering
the best possible broadband connectivity in this area will drive forward the growth of existing
businesses, enhance the inward investment offer and support the development of the
transformational projects planned for the area.
Liverpool Waters Enterprise Zone – a £6bn development
This newly created Enterprise Zone sits adjacent to the Liverpool Waters development, which also
has Enterprise Zone Status. Liverpool Waters is a £6 billion, 150 acre scheme that involves
regenerating an historic dockland site to create a world class, high quality, mixed use waterfront
quarter in central Liverpool. It is the largest proposed development scheme in the city and the
planning application, currently under consideration by Liverpool City Council is the biggest in the
country. Plans for superfast broadband for this area are in development in conjunction with the
landowner Peel Holdings and our proposals will ensure that adjacent areas of growth can
complement this offer.
Smart City
Liverpool Vision, the City’s economic development agency, is committed to leveraging the £6 billion
development of Liverpool’s historic docklands, and the ambitious plans for development of
renewable energy generation within it, as the basis of a ‘Smart City.’ This calls for ubiquitous
ultrafast connectivity to underpin the development of a Smart Grid for the efficient and responsive
distribution of energy produced locally from renewable sources. This in turn offers the potential not
only for Liverpool to have certainty of meeting and exceeding challenging 2050 and intermediate
goals for reduction in carbon emissions, but also to provide all the power required to fulfil the
combined ambitions of the Knowledge Economy Plan for the Liverpool City Region, focusing on high
value, high growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, digital & creative industries, life
sciences and logistics. Furthermore, it offers potential for Liverpool to become a net exporter of
energy and, as the UK’s first Smart City, a potential magnet for inward investment and job creation
in the development of new technologies.
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, which represents over 1700 firms, shares this commitment to the
development of digital infrastructure that will offer speeds in excess of 100 Mbps and help to
position Liverpool as a centre of excellence for off-shore wind and tidal energy.
Liverpool’s Knowledge Economy
The core economic area of the Super Connected proposal contains some of the most significant
knowledge economy assets in the City Region. The knowledge economy plan for the City Region
identifies the opportunity to create 58,000 jobs over the next decade in four sectors – Life Sciences,
Creative & Digital, Advanced Manufacturing, and Financial & Professional Services - with strong
potential for growth. The core economic area of our proposal includes concentrations in three of
these sectors: creative and digital; life sciences, and financial and professional services. These three
sectors will all benefit from and contribute to digital connectivity and growth.
Page | 23
The creative and digital sector is one of Liverpool’s s big success stories with 3,000 companies
employing 23,000 people. The sector is characterised by fast moving innovative small and micro-
businesses, but Liverpool is also Liverpool is home to internationally recognised companies
including Sony, Lime Pictures, River Motion Group, Hurricane Films, and North Star Productions.
Liverpool city region is home to almost 7,000 financial and professional service companies
employing in excess of 60,000 people and contributing £8.3bn to GVA. Liverpool City Region had
57,110 Life sciences jobs in 2008 and the sector achieved 20% jobs growth over the past decade.
Liverpool’s Visitor economy
The Visitor economy and tourism are a major economic driver and source of employment that is
projected to contribute around £4.2bn to city region GVA by 2020. The city region’s visitor economy
currently supports 41,000 jobs and this is projected to grow to 55,000 by 2020 with the vast
majority of that growth focused on Liverpool and indeed within our core economic area.
Liverpool aims to become the number one destination for culture and tourism in the UK, outside
London. This is a realistic ambition: Liverpool is Europe’s most successful ever Capital of Culture,
boasting more galleries and museums than Florence, and more theatres than Dublin. The city’s
visitor economy grew by 9% in 2009-2010, making it worth nearly £2bn; total room-nights sold is
also increasing at 9%, and almost 27,000 jobs are now supported by visitor expenditure. There is
great potential within our super connected cities proposal to drive this growth forward, utilising
new technology and enhancing the existing strong visitor offer.
B2. How will the proposed development enhance the capability of businesses, particularly SMEs,
to increase efficiency and revenues?
Ultrafast broadband offers a range of opportunities for businesses to improve their productivity
and thus enhance their competitive advantage:
In sectors such as financial services where latency of transactions must be kept to an absolute
minimum and resilience at an optimum it ensures both competitiveness and effective use of
security encryption technologies.
For advanced manufacturing and sectors of the digital content industries, the opportunity to
exchange and work collaboratively over distance on very large digital files, e.g., detailed
CAD/CAM drawings or rich media (video). In the case of digital content industries, where a small
number of major commissioners and distributors control access to market, the ability to
participate in patterns of digital workflow determined largely by those major players is
increasingly critical for SMEs wishing to develop and exploit their IP.
It is important for all business sectors to adopt applications and working methodologies that
take advantage of high speed, synchronous connectivity to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of work through the supply chain and with remote customers and suppliers, reducing
24 | P a g e
the barriers (faced particularly by SMEs with little or no capital base) to pursue export
opportunities.
For innovation in the area of applications development to take advantage of ‘the Internet of
Things’, the descriptor of technologies such as RFID, NFC (near field communications) and
Arduinos, that combine software, hardware and metadata in real time business object
management, presenting benefits to business and consumers in a host of logistics, healthcare,
security and retail environments.
Liverpool already has a strong core of firms and developers with this capability, and the opportunity
to use a City Centre offering ubiquitous ultrafast connectivity through a range of networks would
offer these firms a ‘Living Lab’ environment in which to pilot and test new products and services,
enhancing their competitiveness and speed to market.
B3. What proposals are included for leveraging innovation and new broadband connectivity for
the development and delivery of public services?
Liverpool City Council has a strong record for delivering innovative public services by making best
use of innovation. There is a great deal that we have already achieved and, with the help of our
proposed UBF deployment, we will be able to engage with businesses, visitors and residents in a
wide range of different ways.
Ultimately it will help to lower prices, create competition, and boost economic development. It will
seek to offer universal, affordable access to broadband technology and more choice when it comes
to purchasing broadband based services.
The core economic zone of this proposal includes the digital and creative industries quarter with
3000 companies employing 23,000 people. It is one of Liverpool’s success stories. There is great
potential to drive growth further in this sector and for it to become a centre for the development of
applications which can be applied through the new technology.
The ultrafast broadband network, complemented by the WiFi zone will provide a platform for the
launch of a range of public services, which include:
Better access to job information which can more effectively link supply and demand and
improve outcomes in relation to moving more people from welfare into work and ensuring that
the needs of business are met in a way that best serves them. Wireless infrastructure could
support the multi agency HUB approach that will be rolled out in our priority areas were
partners will need to share data quickly and efficiently within a safe and secure setting. Prompt
access to information between partners and to residents and business will be critical to ensure
that service delivery is fit for purpose.
Intelligent transport systems underpinned by the fibre-optic infrastructure to improve the
networking and management of thousands of traffic signals.
Intelligent transport systems underpinned by the fibre-optic infrastructure to improve the
networking and management of thousands of traffic signals.
Page | 25
Building inspectors being able to issue reports and access networked data while conducting
inspections.
Public and private sector buildings in more remote areas being connected through Wi-Fi
without the expense of fibre or private telecommunications contracts.
Helping to bridge the digital divide particularly in the homes of pupils from the most socially
disadvantaged groups. Using the technology to enhance teaching, learning and self-learning
can bring significant educational benefits.
Making the city more attractive to businesses, especially high-tech and research companies,
which are dependent upon communication. Communication also enables small and home-
based businesses to participate in regional and international commerce.
Facilitating companies to recruit new employees who can telework from home without having
to physically relocate.
Some of the existing applications to provide real-time information about bus, train and flight
schedules could be made more pervasive, and combined with the ability for the public to report
delays, disservices and incidents through their mobile devices, hence significantly increasing the
accuracy of real-time information.
Parking meters could be IP-enabled to provide real-time information about actual and
prospective parking availability to drivers through mobile apps.
Leveraging innovation in this way can improve the efficiency of businesses and also contribute to
Liverpool’s already impressive work in the area of Telecare, which could be extended further into
socially deprived areas.
The technology will give SMEs the ability to exploit business opportunity when it arises and it can
impact positively on the speed at which an organisation can grow in terms of finance, market share
and innovation.
B4. How do you propose to stimulate additional private sector investment in order to generate
greater accessibility to faster broadband services by businesses and consumers?
Private sector investment will be stimulated through an OJEU open procurement process that seeks
to construct a commercial agreement based on Market Economy Investor Principle (MEIP) that will
enhance the market offer. Private sector investment will also be encouraged through both strategic
and political commitment to the project. The available borrowing capacity of the City Council may
also be used where necessary to support or match private investment, based on a commercial
return.
There is already significant public sector investment going into key areas across the City, including
the Regional Growth Fund, Growing Places Fund, ERDF and JESSICA investments. The wider City
Deal and Mayoral governance structure will act as the overarching strategic investment structure
26 | P a g e
for the City. The new governance and investment programme will deliver enhanced market
confidence and further encourage investment partners.
The Mayoral governance structure and new Enterprise Zone status as part of the City Deal will also
stimulate further private sector investment, bringing both direct and indirect incentives to locating
within the City. Discussions are already underway with significant inward investment projects and
the ability to offer access to faster broadband and enhanced services to businesses and consumers
will play a crucial role in ensuring that these types of inward investment deals are secured.
Ultimately, private sector investment will be stimulated by the prospects of commercial returns,
over a long term period. This is what the investment and equity markets are currently looking for
and approaching this project in a commercial manner and applying the public sector support
through it, will open opportunities for both the public and private sector alike.
B5. What commitments to raise skills levels in the local population, providing greater
accessibility to educational programmes to equip more people with better knowledge-based
skills, will accompany this investment in faster broadband?
Liverpool City Council has a strong record of providing educational programmes that raise skill
levels to develop enhanced use of ICT and broadband services.
In the south of the city (Speke) one of the City Council’s strategic partnerships (Liverpool Direct
Limited) is supporting a group of schools in an area of high deprivation. The schools have launched
the "I Speke Out" campaign to educate parents and pupils in the safe use of broadband
technologies, with a particular focus on mobile devices, which have ubiquitous wireless access to
the internet.
In a similar vein, the Toxteth Granby Development Trust and Liverpool Vision is working together
with the ‘Go On It’s Liverpool’ scheme, and UK Online, which aims to get more people online and
bridge the digital divide. The initiative focuses upon the importance of being able to use the
internet and how it can help people find a job and “open up a wealth of experience”.
Our Children’s and Young People’s Service has been involved in a highly successful implementation
of providing computers and internet access to the 4,000 most socially disadvantaged families in the
city. This initiative has run for much longer in Liverpool than in other areas because of the
successful local implementation and the high levels of safeguarding and security that protected
pupils and their families when using broadband services both at home and in school. The initial
education programme included both pupils and their parents and it has since been built upon by
schools seeking the e-Safety Mark to enhance knowledge of appropriate use of broadband and
mobile technologies.
Liverpool’s School’s Improvement Service provides universal services and traded services to local
schools that help them to make the most effective use of technology and work towards e-
confidence.
Page | 27
B6. Describe, where appropriate, how the project will dovetail with existing Local Broadband
Plans (for projects in England with allocations from BDUK’s £530m superfast broadband
programme) or with national plans for broadband rollout in Scotland and Wales.
Liverpool City Region is taking forward the development of its Local Broadband Plan, required to
access BDUK funding. The discussions and development work undertaken to form this UBF
proposal have helped to clarify the synergy between the two proposals and there is now a clear
approach to taking both schemes forward together.
s43(2)
, partners are now in a good position to progress the plan whilst
minimising State Aid risks and focussing scarce resource on areas of greatest need and opportunity.
In relation to this UBF proposal, BDUK funding will support the ‘infill’ of not spots.
An officer group from all 5 Merseyside local authorities has been established as a task and finish
group to identify a plan for BDUK. LEP start up and capacity funding will now be used to quickly
develop a Liverpool City Region plan with complementary aims and objectives to our
Superconnected Cities bid, in particular in its use of MEIP and a mix of technologies to optimise
private sector investment.
SECTION C – COMMITMENT OF RESOURCES
C1. Detail those physical and administrative resources that will be committed to the
achievement of objectives in this proposal (show financial resources in Section G – Funding):
C1.1
from the city
Liverpool City Council and its Joint Venture Partner Liverpool Direct Limited have considerable
experience in successfully delivering large programs of work, involving Consultancy, Project
Management, Procurement, Technical Design, Service Design and Solution Architecture.
Qualifications: all Programme Managers are Prince 2 and MSP certified, Senior ICT staff are ITILv3
Accredited and Solution Architects are TOGAF v9 Accredited. Some examples of successful
programmes of work include:
DEFRA call centre provision.
BSF schools.
Security Industry Authority.
Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool.
We are accredited to the following quality
standards:
28 | P a g e
The City Council will utilise the expertise of its in house legal and finance departments and committ
these resources to the project. Lawyers will provide procurement, commercial and contract legal
advice throughout the process. In addition to the legals, dedicated finance/accountants will be
utilised particularly during the financial due diligence process throughout the commercial
negotiation stage of the procurement process and also within the final contractual arrangements.
Both legal, finance and programme management officers will be retained throughout the delivery
and implementation of the project. This significant commitment from the City Council to this
resource demonstrates the priority to which the City Council attaches to this project.
s43(2)
C1.2
from the private sector.
Page | 29
The private sector will demonstrate considerable resource to this project by way of participating
within the procurement process and within their bid proposals. It is through these innovative bids
that the city council will consider for delivery against the needs of the City. As part of any proposal
bid, subsequent competitive dialogue and final contractual signing, it will be expected that the
private sector commits significant financial resource to the achievement of the objectives of the
bid, particularly within its delivery. This resource will be considered and assessed against the
principles of MEIP within the overall delivery structure.
C2. Provide evidence that the City Authority has access to the project management capability
and strengths in programme governance to deliver the programme of work.
Liverpool City Council and its Joint Venture Partner Liverpool Direct Limited have considerable
experience in successfully delivering large complex programmes of work involving financial
management of large publicly funded programmes, Consultancy, Project Management,
Procurement, Technical Design, Service Design and Solution Architecture.
LCC has a dedicated Programmes Team who over the last 10 years have successfully managed
funding in excess of £500million of EU and UK grants. The team consists of senior staff members
with extensive experience in the legal and financial management of large publicly funded
programmes (e.g. RGF, SRB, NDC, HMRI, ESF, ERDF, NRF). The team includes qualified auditors and
grant appraisers alongside legal and European funding specialists. The Programmes Team can also
draw on the support of specialist colleagues from other LCC and Liverpool Direct Limited service
areas such as procurement (UK and European Procurement regulations e.g. Official Journal of the
European Union), legal (e.g. State Aid Regulations), finance and the central policy unit.
All Programme Managers are Prince 2 and MSP certified, Senior ICT staff are ITILv3 Accredited and
Solution Architects are TOGAF v9 Accredited.
In order to ensure that the activities of the Liverpool UBF Programme meet the objectives of the
fund and comply with due diligence, Liverpool Direct Limited and Liverpool City Council will operate
a Programme System. This will operate within the stringent confines of internal financial
regulations.
Examples of successful programmes include:
DEFRA call centre provision where the infrastructure was set up within a month, including
inbound call routing, NGNs and LAN design and the structured cabling fit out for the office.
The Liverpool Building Schools for the Future programme Wave 2 supported investment in six
schemes worth around
s43(2) million.
Security Industry Authority relocation of document handling centre to Liverpool.
Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool
s43(2) million financed by Liverpool City Council, English
Partnerships (now the Homes and Communities Agency), the Northwest Regional Development
Agency and European (ERDF) funding. On completion, ownership of the building was
transferred to Liverpool City Council and ACC Liverpool Ltd was established as a management
30 | P a g e
company to run the arena and convention centre on the council's behalf. Liverpool City Council
is the sole shareholder in ACC Liverpool Ltd and the company has its own Board of Directors,
populated by both Liverpool City Council representatives and independent non-executive
directors.
The £1bn Liverpool One project was the largest retail-led regeneration project in Europe. The
scheme, covering 42 acres provided 1.5m sq ft of retail space as well as hotels, apartments, a
multi-screen cinema and restaurants.
Edge Lane is one of the main gateway routes into the city centre. It is currently undergoing a
£65m improvement scheme which will transform the route from the M62 to the city centre.
This includes highway improvements as well as the provision of over 550 new housing units,
over 1,000,000 square feet of new and refurbished commercial and retail floorspace and
community facilities.
The Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone is one of four UK Enterprise Zones announced in March
2011. LCC along with Wirral MBC are leading on the implementation of the EZ on behalf the
Liverpool LEP and Peel Holdings who own the site.
LCC has a successful track record of developing and maintaining innovative public-private
partnerships with a wide range of organisations for example:
2020Ltd, a partnership between Mouchel and LCC, delivering professional services relating to
property, highways and public realm to clients in the public and private sector,
LCC joint venture with BT for Liverpool Direct Limited that delivers IT service, contact centre,
one stop shops, human resources, payroll, revenues and benefits and Careline social care
service. The venture provides
customer contact and
back office services for a number of other
public sector organisations.
LCC joint venture with Enterprise for Enterprise Liverpool that delivers BPR, full environmental
services (street and refuse) and highways maintenance.
LCC joint venture with Sigma Capital Group currently involved in regeneration project Norris
Green Village, where 178 homes are being built for sale and rent as part of the initial
regeneration phase of the 63 acre site. This has recently been extended to include additional
six sites include of a mix of new homes, new commercial schemes and educational institutions.
C3. How will value for money be assured?
Value for money will be assured by following a tried and tested set of processes and activities
including:
OJEU procurement process with Competitive dialogue following a successful bid we will embark
on a formal OJEU tender following the agreed process below:
Page | 31
The tender will comprise of several lots to ensure that we get the best value and greatest
competition for each lot.
By providing a fully Open access solution many different providers and operators could utilise
the infrastructure creating strong competition.
Tender process scoring matrix. Following a disciplined and auditable process will ensure value
for money and full compliance
Strong client management and the enforcement of SLA’s and KPI’s which will be continually
measured and driven to ensure continual Service improvement throughout the contract term.
Effective supplier and Contract management
Benchmark against BDUK norms: The suppliers wholesale pricing will be under benchmarking
for at least 7 years to ensure that monopoly providers position is not unduly exploited
Benchmark against business support and economic development norms
C4. Broadband investment will lead to both quantifiable and non-quantifiable benefits. Outline
how you propose to measure and monitor the delivery of such benefits that are quantifiable.
This section of our bid sets out how the quantifiable benefits of our broadband investment
proposals will be measured and monitored in terms of:
Outputs - relating to direct activity, measured in physical or financial terms;
Results - relating to the direct and immediate effect brought about over the lifetime of the project,
including changes to the behaviour, capacity or performance of direct beneficiaries measured in
physical or financial terms; and
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Impacts - referring to the consequences of the project beyond the immediate effect on its direct
beneficiaries.
In addition, wider less tangible impacts will also be considered.
Outputs, results and impacts
The proposed main outputs, results and impacts are as follows:
Outputs
New fibre and ducting installed for enterprise zone
New fibre and ducting to facilitate ubiquitous wireless coverage
Building connections – No. Of connections
Existing Business capable of Ultrafast connections
WiFi provisioning to cover 25Km² and 100,000 residents
Levels of direct investment
Results
Number of business units by industry, size and area (business density)
New businesses created (including SMEs and inward investment) – Business start up, closure
and survival rates.
Employment created and safeguarded – changes in gross volumes of jobs by industry. It is
anticipated that the most readily quantifiable employment impact will be in relation to the
attraction of inward investment. Where this occurs it is likely to be in those sectors that require
high quality, high capacity, resilient bandwidth.
Leverage of additional investment in broadband infrastructure / provision
Impacts
Net additional employment created and safeguarded - No. of net additional jobs created and
safeguarded
Gross Value Added (GVA) - £m of net additional GVA created and safeguarded. Also GVA per
head, per worker and by industry
Earnings and income levels – gross annual earnings levels for both residents and workers and
gross disposable household income
Amount of additional inward investment generated
Many of the more contextual benefits (results and impacts) are routinely monitored by the City
Council through existing statistical reports and economic briefings and we will tailor these to ensure
that they are directly related to the broadband investment in the area covered by our proposals.
For other indicators we will establish new and unique monitoring practices to ensure the full
quantifiable benefits of our proposals are captured.
Wider benefits
There are a range of both economic and social benefits to the project.
Ultrafast broadband offers a range of opportunities for businesses to improve their productivity
and thus enhance their competitive advantage:
In sectors such as financial services where speed of transactions and resilience must be
maximised to ensure both competitiveness and effective use of security encryption
technologies.
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For advanced manufacturing and sectors of the digital content industries, the opportunity to
exchange and work collaboratively over distance on very large files.
For all business sectors to adopt applications and working methodologies that take advantage
of high speed, synchronous connectivity to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of work
through the supply chain.
For innovation in the area of applications development to take advantage of ‘the Internet of
Things’ (technologies such as RFID, NFC (near field communications) and Arduinos) that allow
software and metadata to translate into real time business objective management, presenting
benefits to business and consumers in a host of logistics, healthcare, security and retail
environments. Liverpool already has a strong core of firms and developers with this capability,
and the opportunity to use a City Centre offering ubiquitous ultrafast connectivity through a
range of networks would offer these firms a ‘Living Lab’ environment in which to pilot and test
new products and services.
Quantifying these benefits has been an area of some debate. However, recent research reviewed
by Adroit on behalf of e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for ICT, suggests that increased
broadband speeds coupled with increased penetration – a quadrupling of speeds matched by a 10%
increase in take up, a conservative reflection of what may be achieved in the wider bid area - can
boost GVA by 1.6% over a two year period. Applying these figures to the UBF project area suggests
additional GVA directly attributable to the deployment of faster broadband of £56m over two
years. Further measures of the impact of take up and use of more advanced ICT by firms predict
that over the period to 2020, GVA in the project area would rise by £371m – 4.4% of total GVA at
2012 levels.
A further model provided by e-skills and Adroit Economics gives a range of indicators for the social
benefits of broadband investment:
Social benefits if digital exclusion were fully addressed in UFB project area:
s43(2)
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s43(2)
Further benefits include:
Work-life balance – enabling different working patterns, including greater home working, may
also shift and reduce pressure on other public services including transport, health and social
care.
CO2 savings – increasing home working and use of collaborative working tools such as video
conferencing can reduce the number and distance of journeys and consequently result in
savings of CO2
Image – for a limited period the availability of competitively priced, open-access ultrafast
broadband can provide Liverpool with a comparative advantage to enhance the image of the
city as a whole and, in particular, its appeal to potential inward investors.
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SECTION D –STIMULATING TAKE UP AND DEMAND
D1.
Detail your proposals for education, information and demand building activities generating
greater demand by businesses (including SMEs) and residences for ultra-fast broadband
services, aiming for 50% take-up across all sectors.
Since August 2011, Liverpool City Council in conjunction with Liverpool Vision and its partners and
have been undertaking significant demand stimulation and education activity across Liverpool. This
is in response to ONS data which shows that approximately 92,000 people who live in the city (out
of a population of 450,000) have never been online.
The work done to date by the Go ON it’s Liverpool campaign (which arose out of the Government’s
Race Online initiative) will be taken forward and expanded by providing targeted support to the
people and businesses most at need in order to use resources most effectively, as follows:
Reduce the number of people socially and digitally excluded in Liverpool from 69% to the national
average of 40%.
50% of all off-liners in Liverpool live in social housing so the Go ON it’s Liverpool campaign has
specifically targeted partnerships with Registered Social Landlords as a key channel to secure
the greatest impact.
Target businesses - with the goal to increase the number of businesses by between 6,000 and
9,000 new small and medium enterprises to enable the city to compete successfully with their
competitors and encourage economic growth.
Examples of actions that have been and will be taken to achieve these goals include:
Continuing to recruit Go ON it’s Liverpool Digital Champions – 5,000 digital champions targeted
who can be family members, friends and/or neighbours, that can offer support to new users
with their first steps online by mentoring others to use a pc and access the internet
Increasing the number and range of local places where people offline can get support – e.g.
working with Registered Social Landlords, Chamber of Commerce, Police information kiosks and
Unions.
Improving digital infrastructure and removing affordability as a barrier – providing cheap PCs,
staged payments etc.
Continuing the strong local marketing/ PR campaign for Go ON it’s Liverpool and the BBC Give
an Hour campaigns.
Liverpool Vision has recently recruited a team of Business Growth Managers, whose responsibility
will be to identify and work with local SMEs that demonstrate the capacity to grow and create jobs.
In this, we recognise that one of the key factors in stimulating business growth is the willingness
and ability of businesses to take advantage of new developments in communications technology,
both to respond to customer demand and to take advantage of new markets. We have therefore
ensured that all of our managers are fully conversant with the latest developments in broadband
technology, and link in closely to Liverpool Vision’s Creative & Digital specialists as appropriate.
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In addition to this, Liverpool will recruit – subject to anticipated ERDF approval in March 2012 – a
specialist ICT Manager, whose role will be to work with local businesses that are able to effect a
step change in their productivity through better use of ICT. This manager will be part of the general
business support team and will ensure that increased web based ability within businesses is a
natural part of the city’s business support offering.
Both of these services will complement the new Business Coaching for Growth service, which will
concentrate business support on those businesses that have the capacity to grow at more than 20%
year on year.
Having worked closely with Google over 2011 to encourage small businesses to take full advantage
of internet based technology – over 1,000 local SMEs attended one to one training sessions with
Google – Liverpool Vision is continuing to work with Google and local partners on its legacy
programme, that will put in place a structured programme of web based training to underline to
SMEs the importance of web based services in the growth of their businesses. This training will
cover all businesses, from those using web based technology for the first time, to businesses
wishing to build upon a solid track record of on line trading.
D2. How will the proposed investment be utilised to transform the delivery of public sector
services by making as many services as possible available online?
The City Council is keen to lead the development and delivery of public services using new
technologies. The ultimate goal is the concept of Liverpool providing an Ultrafast broadband service
supplemented by a Wi-Fi cloud, which will go far beyond the existing ad-hoc opportunities available
near fast food outlets and coffee shops and will support the delivery of the best possible services to
citizens, helping to raise quality and increase value for money.
With other public agencies such as the Technology Strategy Board offering support for the
development for applications that demonstrate the power of ‘the Internet of Things’, this will drive
innovation in the private sector, increasing the opportunities for SMEs to bring to market new and
technologically innovative solutions to delivery of social goods, and in turn increase the
attractiveness of Liverpool as a destination for inward investment for firms looking to develop and
test new applications.
The City Councils vision is :
‘To transform the quality of life of residents through the delivery of efficient and accessible Council
services, making Liverpool a business and visitor - friendly city, and ultimately exploiting technology
to enable a flexible, adaptable and well-skilled workforce’.
‘To enable all customers of Liverpool City Council to take control of the way they want services
made available and delivered’.
The delivery of services in our proposed area is challenging and there are a number of areas where
innovation and technology could help us do more for less and increase the quality of our services. It
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is the focus for the City’s main economic assets and business base and sees upwards of 30 million
visitors a year. However it is also home to some of our most deprived neighbourhoods and
includes:
Over 100,000 people of whom over 60,000 of these residents live in the most deprived 1% of
neighbourhoods in the country;
28% of the working age population in the area is workless and dependant on benefits;
Nearly 40% of all households live in the socially rented sector;
Skill levels are low with 37% of people have highest qualification levels below NVQ2;
The network would be capable of enhancing both the management of the city, the economy and
support the delivery of a wide range of public services from public safety to health, transport and
employment. Our proposals for wireless connectivity acknowledge that in some of most deprived
areas, take up of fixed line broadband access is low. Greater wireless coverage will support the
choices which people are making around mobile technology and together with exploring the
potential for some free public access, will give a platform from which to deliver public services.
Specific examples of our proposed approach include:
Further extension of Tele-health solutions. The area covered by our wireless proposals has
significant health deprivation issues with virtually all of the area in the most deprived 5%
nationally for health deprivation;
Applications will be developed to support better access to job information which can more
effectively link supply and demand and improve outcomes in relation to moving more people
from welfare into work.
Development of specific tourism applications which enhance the visitor experience, offer real
time information and allow engagement of visitors
Intelligent transport systems underpinned by the fibre-optic infrastructure to improve the
networking and management of thousands of traffic signals.
Council staff including Social workers, Building inspectors and lone workers will benefit from
ubiquitous WiFi coverage by being able to issue reports and request help advice and guidance
dynamically.
Helping to bridge the digital divide particularly in the homes of pupils from the most socially
disadvantaged groups who benefitted only temporarily from the Computers for Pupils initiative.
The benefits to enhancing teaching and learning are significant.
D3. Proposals for delivering social benefits, possibly including: online involvement in
democratic processes; flexible working; more flexible local labour markets; changing
patterns of work; more online commerce.
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Improving the broadband connectivity would act as an accelerator not only to economic
development but would have a range of vital social benefits including, for example, improved
access to emerging technologies around video, voice and data and improved access to new forms of
communication. With increased connectedness, people will be able to improve their lives through
better access to family, friends, services and entertainment and increased education and work
opportunities.
This is particularly pertinent for Liverpool and the urban broadband area. Liverpool is historically a
diverse city and is becoming increasingly so. The city is home to many BME communities, such as
Black African, Indian, Irish, Chinese and more recent migrants from Poland and other countries.
The area has a high BME population and supports a rich and varied culture which would benefit and
create greater demand for services and online commerce. For example, Liverpool has the oldest
Chinese community in Europe and Chinatown is located in the southern part of the area. A large
proportion of the Chinese population live close to Chinatown within the UBF boundary and use the
popular the Wag Sing and Pagoda Community Centres for support, education, elderly welfare,
activities and advice. Broadband access will improve access to distant relatives, teleworking,
reducing language barriers, e-government, distance learning, telemedicine, small business
assistance, utility applications, e-commerce, entertainment and information gathering.
Increased broadband speed will also help reduce the challenges faced by disabled people. It will
improve the availability of applications for disabled people, will enable more disabled people to
access work opportunities and will improve communication and reduce remoteness through speeds
that support high quality full motion video, data and voice. This is particularly important in
Liverpool where 21.3% of the population consider themselves disabled and 23.5% of the population
have a long term limiting illness (ONS Annual Population Survey Dec 2010).
The council and its partners, through its Equality and Diversity Policy Statement, is committed to
meeting the needs of all our staff and citizens and is continuing to work towards ensuring its
communications are accessible and usable to all people including providing services in community
locations using the network of One Stop Shops, on street information kiosks and utilising other
electronic opportunities as they emerge, such as online involvement for example through our
citizen’s panel. Ensuring transparency and producing key communications in ways that people can
easily access them and in appropriate formats which make the best use of technology is a priority.
Broadband will enable the presentation of information in multiple formats, such as audio, video
and captioning, and languages.
Broadband will also enable increased worker productivity in a way which most benefits them and
increased efficiencies in the distribution of goods, services and information. The council and its
partners are committed to flexible working and actively promote this through family friendly
policies which are designed to give employees the chance, for example, to work hours that fit with
other responsibilities including supporting people to work from home. Urban broadband will
increase the take up of flexible working, be responsive to changing patterns of work and improve
the flexibility of the local markets through online working and increased connectivity and
communication.
Improving access to work for the population is critical for Liverpool. More than one in five working
age residents in Liverpool are claiming out of work benefits equating to a worklessness rate for the
city of 21.8% (Nomis/DWP May 2011). However, Liverpool’s city centre population also continues
to grow and attract a range of people drawn to urban living including students and professionals
and by providing cutting edge technological solutions the Liverpool cultural offer will continue to
Page | 39
attract these markets and the businesses which serve them. For example, as well as being home to
and attracting Liverpool’s multicultural communities, the urban broadband area encompasses the
city’s gay village – the Stanley Street Quarter – which was officially recognized in Nov 2011 with
plans to attract businesses, increase investment and visitors to the area. The ultrafast broadband
package will enhance the offer of this area both to businesses and to people visiting the gay village -
it is estimated that 27,000 of the Liverpool population are lesbian, gay or bisexual (Stonewall).
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SECTION E – STREAMLINING PLANNING PROCESSES TO SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE ROLLOUT
E1. Demonstrate how the Local Authorities involved will expedite the installation of new
infrastructure by ensuring that wayleaves, streetworks and other permissions required for
access to public land and properties are made available in a timely fashion.
The City Council will ensure that any permissions for wayleaves, streetworks, or any other
permissions, such as planning permissions, that may be required to access public land and
properties, are expedited as quickly as possible in order that new infrastructure can be rolled out in
a timely fashion to meet the timescales set out in this bid.
Any civil engineering works proposed as part of this bid will be undertaken altogether in as short a
defined period of time as possible in order to minimise disruption to businesses, road users and the
general populace. These works will be clearly articulated and publicised as widely as possible to not
only raise awareness of the fact that they are happening but also to promote the benefits of the
infrastructure that is being put in place.
s43(2)
E2.
Indicate how engagement with large private owners of properties and land will be used to
facilitate access for the deployment of infrastructure.
The City Council has already undertaken significant engagement with large private owners of
properties and land in the City’s commercial district and Environmental Technology Zone in order to
evaluate access issues and to make arrangements to mitigate against any envisaged problems. This
approach will be taken forward for all areas covered by this bid. By meeting with and promoting
the benefits of access to ultrafast broadband infrastructure, owners of buildings and land should
quickly be able to realise the benefit in allowing timely access to their properties, as although there
may be a short period of upheaval in terms of construction works (although this will be kept to a
minimum), the works will result in significant advantages for the building / site. Indeed the demand
stimulation and engagement work that has taken place to date shows that property owners,
developers, and managers have expressed a view that super/ultra fast broadband provision will
“…provide the opportunity to create additional lettings and to support specific sectors, including
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the potential to provide bespoke property solutions in response to augmented infrastructure.” Soft
market testing has identified clear support for the roll out of super/ultra fast broadband among key
property and business leaders both to the principle of the infrastructure and the likelihood of
significant economic benefits being realised.
E3.
Detail any other steps the Local Authorities will take to facilitate network deployment and
up-grading.
Part of the area targeted by this bid is designated as an Enterprise Zone. Within this zone, a
simplified planning regime will be operated. This means that planning applications in this area will
be fast tracked and the amount of information required to be submitted alongside applications will
be minimised. The City Council will also commit to programme manage the pre-application and
application stages of development within the Enterprise Zone. These proposals effectively set up
an informal planning performance agreement (PPA) between the City Council as Local Planning
Authority and the landowners / developers in this area.
Additionally, as part of the investment outlined in this bid, the City Council will be seeking to
provide funding to businesses within the area to cover any excess construction costs (ECC) which
may be required to enable them to receive FTTP services. This equates to approx £1,000 per
business in the key economic areas covered by this bid.
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SECTION F – COMPLIANCE WITH STATE AID RULES
F1. Show how the proposed infrastructure investments and business models to be used will
comply with State Aid rules.
In order for a measure to constitute State Aid within the meaning of Article 107 (1) Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), it has to fulfil four conditions:
1.
Funding is granted by the state or through state resources;
2.
Produces an economic advantage for a selected undertaking or undertakings;
3.
The advantage distorts or threatens to distort competition; and
4.
It creates an actual or potential effect on trade between Member States
An open procurement process (OJEU) will be used. This will be open to all on a non discriminatory
basis. Through operating a competitive procurement process, the selectivity condition will be
avoided for State Aid purposes.
The procurement process to be engaged (Competitive Dialogue) will allow a commercial
arrangement to be secured. The proposed business model will work on the Market Economy
Investor Principle (MEIP). MEIP doesn’t contain any State aid and thus falls outside Article 107 (1)
TFEU. The EU treaty is neutral as to public or private ownership and/or involvement with
commerce.
When an arm of the state acts in a manner that would ordinarily be considered as acceptable by a
private investor applying normal commercial criteria and disregarding considerations of social,
political or philanthropic nature, then it cannot convey State Aid because it will not be acting in a
way that delivers an economic advantage to private undertakings. One of the main pillars necessary
for there to be State Aid in any particular case (ie) advantage to an undertaking, is not there.
Independent benchmarking and/or independent valuations will also be obtained throughout the
process to ensure the principles of MEIP are adhered to and this will be implemented into the final
contractual arrangements. Independent and external State Aid advice will be obtained and supplied
in parallel to the commercial negotiation process.
Liverpool City Council will ensure that any investment into the project will be on the same terms as
the private sector and/or there is a sound business plan demonstrating that the proposal stands a
reasonable chance of delivering acceptable commercial terms (without unacceptable risks).
Independent expert valuations will be used where necessary. Any leasing arrangements as part of
the contractual relationship (of public sector assets etc), will be at market rate levels.
The infrastructure investment and business model will adhere to the MEIP principles. In the event
MEIP is not possible, an appropriate notification will be made as part of the State Aid compliance
procedure.
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F2. Summarise any information you have received from the Commission that supports the view
in F1.
The EU Treaty is neutral as to public or private ownership and/or involvement with commerce. It
however seeks to preserve a level playing field and prevent undue distortions of competition
caused by state ’subsidy.’
Where the state acts in a manner that would ordinarily be considered acceptable by the private
investor then it cannot convey State Aid because it will not be providing an economic advantage to
private undertakings (Spain v Commission [1994]).
If the state behaves as would an ordinary private investor then no one has received a particular
benefit because the same result could just have easily happened through a private investor doing
exactly the same thing. This principle is applied to many different types of project (see also Altmark
[2003, P&O European Ferries (Vizcaya) SA v Commission [2003] and Ryanair V Commission [2008]).
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Total Capital Funding Required
2012/2013
2013/2014
2014/2015
Totals
£millions
Private
£
20.00
£ 50.00
£ 30.00
£ 100.00
UBF
£ 5.00
£ 2.00
£
2.00
£ 9.00
Other Funding
RGF Broadband
£ 1.00
£ 1.00
£ -
£ 2.00
RGF Infrastructure
£ 4.00
£ 3.00
£
1.00
£ 8.00
BDUK
£ 2.00
£ 2.00
Growing Places Fund
£ 1.00
£ 1.00
£ 2.00
Other - EU
£ 1.50
£ 1.50
£ -
£ 3.00
Total
£
34.50
£ 58.50
£ 33.00
£ 126.00
Other funding
LCC - management
£
0.075
£ 0.075
£ 0.050
£ 0.200
Liverpool Direct Limited
£ 0.25
£ 0.25
£ 0.500
LCC - Demand stimulation
£
0.270
£ 0.270
£ 0.540
Manager
£ 0.07
£ 0.07
£ 0.130
and stimulation
£ 2.50
£ 2.50
£ 5.00
s43(2)
mme
£ 3.50
£ 10.50
£
1.00
£ 15.0
t - EZ
£
55.40
£ 17.30
£ 12.20
£ 85.00
£
62.06
£ 30.96
£ 13.25
£ 106.37
s43(2)
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s43(2)
SECTION H – DELIVERY
s43(2)
s43(2)
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H3. The proposal should demonstrate its fit with the government’s approach to using SMEs in
delivery2.
The City Council can demonstrate the fit of this proposal with the government’s approach to using
SMEs in delivery in a number of ways:
It has already been indicated that the procurement process will involve a number of lots rather
than a single large contract allowing for SMEs or consortia of SMEs to submit a tender;
As appropriate and through the competitive dialogue process, ways to increase SME access to
sub-contracting opportunities will be explored with major suppliers;
A positive, transparent and open approach will be taken to the pre-tender stage of the
procurement process with the aim of increasing the amount of information that is available to
SMEs about the contract opportunities;
The City has a substantial creative and digital sector comprising 3,000 firms, largely Small and
Medium sized enterprises. There is enormous potential for this investment to drive
opportunities for innovation in this sector in terms of the applications which public sector
bodies and the private sector will be looking to develop.
Sign off by Local Authority CEO, Section 151 officer or Portfolio-Holding Executive Member
Name of proposal: It’s Super Connected – It’s Liverpool
I verify that this proposal to the Ultrafast Broadband Fund fits with corporate policy
Signed:
Name: Ged Fitzgerald
Job Title
: Chief Executive
Date: 10 February 2012
2 See
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/small-and-medium-enterprise-sme-action-plans
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