Northumberland is facing a £10 million broadband funding shortfall, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander will be told today (January 10th 2013).

Campaign group Broadband for Northumberland (BfN) warned that almost a quarter of homes could be left to "die in the digital revolution", reports the Journal.

The organisation argued that the £35 million of public money allocated to the county to improve connectivity under the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme is £10 million short of the amount needed to benefit communities outside of towns and villages.

Council chiefs plan to use BDUK cash to roll out universal super-fast speeds by 2020.

However, the BfN claimed some 60 per cent of the county's geographical area will be left without the same speeds available in the UK's cities unless more funding is allocated.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, campaign director at the group, said: "The reality is that unless we see somewhere like £10 million more from the government's BDUK unit we can expect large parts of Northumberland to be completely left behind."

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