Rt Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP
DCOMS
2-4 Cockspur Street
London
SW1Y 5DH

11 January 2012

Dear Jeremy,

Urgent: Campaign to ‘Let Brighton Bid' for super-connected broadband

The purpose of this letter is to request an urgent meeting with you with a delegation from Brighton's digital sector to urge you to permit the City of Brighton and Hove to bid for funding to deliver 80-100Mbps ‘ultrafast' broadband.

I understand from the information available that the Government is allowing cities with more than 150,000 dwellings to compete for the funding for ultrafast connection of broadband. Given that Brighton falls only marginally short of this qualifying figure with 125,000 dwellings and has the biggest digital business cluster per head of population of any city in the UK I am hoping that you might be open to allowing Brighton the opportunity to join the competition.

Brighton's digital sector produces high quality work that is internationally recognised. As you are no doubt aware, Brighton is home to the Brighton Digital Festival which your colleague Ed Vaizey visited last year. Additionally, Brighton is part of the One Digital Alliance with Bristol and Manchester and so also has a strong presence in the digital sector at a national level.

The internet is now a fundamental part of Brighton's economy and I very much hope that you will agree to meet our delegation and that you will support the ‘Let Brighton Bid' campaign.

Given that the closing date of the competition is 13 February, if Brighton is to bid, there is some urgency to this matter. I should therefore be grateful for your urgent reply.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion

Read the Secretary of State's reply