Importance of Digital

Infrastructure to Economic

Development and Tourism

Michelle Gordon

Enterprise Manager

Tendring District Council

Profile of Tendring

Population – 148,000

Area sqkm - 337.7

population density – 438 people/sqkm

4th most populated of all the Essex districts.

8th most densely populated Essex district.

40,000 people live in rural wards

Tourism in Tendring

Worth £344million to economy

3.7million day and stay visits

Supports 6,500 jobs

Coastal/seaside focus

Potential to expand the rural market

Digital Exclusion

Certain neighbourhoods in Tendring have social and digital exclusion scores of between 54% and 74%

4 main issues:

Business sustainability

Education and lifelong learning

Access to services

Social and community cohesion

Wireless Coast

Street furniture concession

OJEU Procurement

Metro WiFi in coastal towns

Clacton, Frinton, Walton, Harwich

Use of Council assets

Awarded to MLL Telecom

Metro WiFi

1st phase delivered August 2013

Clacton Airshow

160,000 visitors

Re-use CCTV locations & networks

Other Coastal towns Summer 2014

Business Parks

Underserved business parks

Gorse Lane

240 businesses

512Kbps broadband

March 2014

Delivery of small cell radio solution

40Mbps/40Mbps

String demand from local businesses

Expand to other business parks

Rural Business Interventions that make a

real difference

• Creative planning solutions

• Business Grant support

• A single point of contact for

the business client

• Result: a fantastic

workspace and new jobs

created

Wireless Coast