Braintree Council has forked out £250,000 to speed up the rollout of superfast broadband to the district.

Essex County Council is due to start a second phase of a programme which aims to provide at least 87 per cent of homes and businesses in the district with speeds of up to 24Mbps .

When the rollout began in 2013, Braintree had one of the worst provisions in Essex with just 58 per cent of homes able to access top speeds.

County Hall has already spent £6.46million on the £24.6million scheme, with the final stage expected to cost an extra £9.2million with £550,000 coming from local councils .

Alongside Braintree, Tendring Council has spent £164,000 and Maldon Council has paid £91,000, meaning the three districts will take priority.

Lady Patricia Newton, Braintree councillor responsible for infrastructure, said: “The council has allocated £250,000 from its New Homes Bonus to provide better broadband for businesses in the district.

“We are working with Essex County Council’s Superfast Essex programme on the rollout of superfast fibre optic broadband, and the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme for Essex has been agreed and is underway .

“Last year the Government announced an extension to the BDUK programme where they would match money put forwar d by local authorities, and Essex County Council announced £5.5m match funding for the project, to which we have added £250,000 to get additional delivery in the district.

“Superfast Essex is currentl y developing options for the extended rollout in the district, and we will be consulting our Business Leaders Board in the coming months on the best options for business needs .

“In the meantime we continue to work with Superfast Essex on putting together a business guide to broadband.”