North Yorkshire Council

 

Executive

 

15 July 2025

 

Update on progress of Superfast North Yorkshire and NYNet 100

 

Report of the Corporate Director Resources

 

 

1.0          Purpose of the Report

 

1.1          To update the Executive on work that has taken place on delivery of superfast broadband to residents of North Yorkshire over the last 15 years.

 

1.2          To approve the winding-up of the wholly owned company NYNet 100 that was created to deliver the Superfast North Yorkshire (SFNY) programme

 

 

 

2.0       Background

 

2.1       In 2011 North Yorkshire County Council was successful in bidding for funding to roll-out superfast broadband into areas of the county that had not been covered by commercial providers. The County Council had already created NYNet as a company in order to aggregate broadband across the public sector and there were clear synergies resulting in the creation of NYNet 100. NYNet 100 was created to provide the key resource to carry out procurement and contract management for the phases in order to address areas of broadband “not-spots” across North Yorkshire.

 

2.2       A series of subsequent procurements were carried out and coverage of superfast broadband across North Yorkshire now stands at 97 percent. Phase 4 was the final contract administered by NYNet 100 on behalf of North Yorkshire Council. The government has now assumed responsibility for the roll-out of further tranches of superfast broadband through the Project Gigabit initiative. It is therefore timely for the council to consider winding-up NYNet 100 as a separate company, leaving NYNet as a stand-alone wholly owned trading company.

 

2.3       The County Council had provided significant levels of funding to supplement funding from government through BDUK and European grant funding. The Council has deployed agreed funding as well as using “overage” generated by BT (the contractors in Phases 1, 2 and 3) when take up of broadband had been in excess of a commercial break even position. In other words, public subsidy was paid back when it was proven that there was a sufficient commercially viable demand for service. The Council has benefited tremendously from this provision in the contract and this has been unique in England for BDUK sponsored schemes.

 

2.4       Overage funding has currently amounted to £27.58m with a further £4m estimated to be received this year. As identified above, a significant share has been used in order to match fund for the furtherance of super-fast broadband but funds remain available for the Council to use on infrastructure.

 

2.5       This report sets out the successes of the SFNY programme; the extent to which average has been achieved; a proposal to use an element of the remaining overage funding to refund NYNet 100 for procurement and related activity from the Phase one SFNY project; and proposes the winding-up of NYNet 100 given that this area of work is now complete.

 

3.0       Activity Undertaken by Superfast North Yorkshire

 

3.1       There have been 4 phases of the SFNY programme. The table below provides some details on the impact and funding levels that were secured.

 

 

Dates

Contract Value (£)

No of Premises

Cost to NYC(£)

Phase 1

Started 07/12

£26.4m

157,804

£0

Phase 2

Ended 03/19

£9.9m

16,385

£3m

Phase 3

01/18-03/22

£29.7m

14,239

£1.03m

Phase 4

12/20-03/24

£14.4m

13,451

£9.24m

Total

 

£80.4m

201,879

£13.27m

            NOTE: Phase 1 and 2 were a single contract with Phase 2 representing a contract extension.

 

3.2       Over 200,000 homes and businesses have been upgraded to Superfast Broadband as a result of the SFNY programme.  This represents nearly 2/3 of the eligible premises within North Yorkshire.  Notable areas have included the tourist attraction, Forbidden Corner, which transformed its visitor experience as a result of the arrival of full fibre broadband as part of Phase 3.  Hudswell, just outside of Richmond, was another area to benefit from the SFNY programme, this had a particularly notable effect as a result of COVID lockdowns with the resident stating that before the arrival of Superfast broadband they “were actually considering whether we would have to move house to live somewhere where the connectivity was better.”.

 

3.3       The cost to NYC has been met from a combination of revenue contributions as approved in previous reports to the Executive, the balance of Performance Related Grant and reinvestment of overage to date. This funding has been paid to NYC by BT as the contractor where take-up has effectively shown that there was a commercial business case for the installation and no public subsidy was therefore ultimately required. This mechanism has been hugely successful for North Yorkshire and is testament to the innovative approach taken by the Council in using NYNet as its agent. The table below demonstrates the growth of this funding:

 

 

Overage Generated (£)

Overage Used to Match Fund (£)

Overage Funding Balance (£)

Phase 1

£21,998,048

 

 

Phase 2

£4,516,669

Phase 3

£765,646

Phase 4

£300,000

Total

£27,580,364

£8,279,034

£19,301,330

* This excludes estimated overage due to be received in 2025.      

           

3.3       As can be seen above, there is a balance of £19.3m that remains available. This funding belongs to NYC and is not fettered by terms and conditions although a previous commitment was given to BDUK that any balance would be used to promote “infrastructure” with digital infrastructure being a clear objective.

 

 

 

4.0       Future of NYNet 100

 

4.1       NYNet 100 has acted as the project and contract manager for all of the SFNY phases. This centre of expertise has been well regarded by government and the broadband / tele-communications market so has served North Yorkshire well.

 

4.2       All of the costs associated with Phases 2 to 4 have been met from grant and Council funding. The initial concept, created in Phase 1, was that NYNet would generate sufficient returns in order to fund the cost of procurement and contract management for SFNY. The market has changed significantly since that time and NYNet 100 has never been “paid” for the costs of delivering Phase 1.

 

4.3       NYNet 100 has now completed its mission but closure of the company requires a clean set of accounts. It is therefore proposed that £1.65m of the overage balance is applied to NYNet 100 as a retrospective payment for SFNY phase 1 costs.

 

4.4       Having applied this funding, officers can then pursue the winding-up of the company with Companies House. It is recommended that delegated authority is given to the Corporate Director – Strategic Resources to pursue such arrangements. This issue would normally be dealt with by the Shareholder Executive Sub-Committee but, given the end of the SFNY programme and subsequent recommendations this issue can be dealt with by the full Executive.

 

 

5.0       Financial Implications

 

5.1       As identified above in paragraph 4.3, it is proposed that £1.65m of the overage balance is transferred to NyNet100 to cover the balance owed on phase 1.

 

6.0       Legal Implications

 

6.1       A company can be dissolved via application for voluntary strike off using Companies House form DS01.  The application must be signed by a majority of the directors of NyNet 100. Before submitting the application, NyNet 100 must ensure that it has not, within the previous three months, changed its name, traded, disposed of property for value, or engaged in any activity other than those necessary for making the application, concluding its affairs, or complying with statutory requirements. Additionally, it must have resolved all liabilities, closed its bank accounts, and completed its tax affairs. Any remaining property or assets must be distributed, as they will otherwise pass to the Crown upon dissolution.

 

6.2       After the application is filed, Companies House will publish a notice in the Gazette, giving interested parties an opportunity to object. If no objections are raised within two months, NyNet 100 will be struck off the register, and a second notice will be published in the Gazette confirming the dissolution, meaning the Company will no longer exist.

 

 

7.0

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

It is recommend that the Executive:-

 

i)              notes the successful work carried out by the Superfast North Yorkshire programme in helping over 200,000 homes and businesses to become broadband-enabled over the last 13 years.

 

ii)            notes the successful receipt of overage funding (over £27m) arising from higher than anticipated take-up of broadband in the areas where SFNY has made an intervention. (Para 2.4)

 

iii)           approves the application of £1.65m from the overage reserve to reimburse NYNet 100 for the costs of delivering Phase 1 of the SFNY programme.

 

iv)        delegates authority to the Corporate Director – Resources to proceed with the winding-up of NYNet 100 in conjunction with the Board of the company.

 

 

Gary Fielding

Corporate Director Resources/S151 Officer

County Hall

Northallerton

7 July 2025

 

Report Author – Gary Fielding

Presenter of Report – Gary Fielding

 

 

Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.