It was a pleasure to officially launch superfast broadband in the village of Ashbury today, the first of many communities set to benefit from extra funding from the Vale of White Horse District Council. So far the roll out of superfast broadband by Oxfordshire County Council and BT has achieved around 93% coverage of the Vale. Additional funding provided by the District Council is now set to increase this to over 97%. This latest phase of the broadband programme delivers almost complete fibre broadband coverage in villages such as Ashbury, where approximately 230 premises (both commercial and residential) now have proper access to internet resources which are increasingly vital to our everyday lives for leisure, learning, and commerce. Whilst work remains to be done, and people have had to wait a fair bit of time for fibre broadband to arrive, it is right to acknowledge the progress which has been made which would otherwise simply not have happened. The investment by the Vale of White Horse is estimated to deliver superfast broadband to more than 2,750 premises. Work is already underway to find innovative solution and funding for the remaining few properties.