It  claims, “Plans to help York stay the most digitally connected city in the UK will be considered by senior councillors at next Thursday’s (7 December) Executive meeting.

The council is proposing to renew the ICT service contract which over the last decade has put York ahead of the rest of the country.

Through installing a future-proof fibre network, the contract has driven improvements to council services, including online reporting, CCTV and traffic management, and connecting the city’s schools, universities and community buildings to high-speed internet access”.

In reality, of course, “on line” reporting systems for the general public are far behind those of comparable Councils while the advanced parking availability sign data stopped being displayed several years ago.

The new contract is expected to be worth in excess of £1.3 million per annum.

The statement goes on to say, “The council’s bold steps and commitment to digital infrastructure has created the platform for multi-millions pound private sector investment which has:

• provided free wi-fi in the city-centre and park and ride service
• provided ultra-fast broadband, with speeds between 250 Megabites and 1 Gigabit per second, to over 20,000 York homes and businesses – with over 70% of the city to be covered by 2019
• attracted businesses to York and given local businesses a competitive advantage
• helped secure funding to trial the technology of the future, including digital pothole scanning and a traffic system which ‘talks’ to cars across our road network

The existing contract runs out in August 2018. If the Executive approves the proposals, the council will seek a technology provider for the contract that includes design, management and support of the council’s data network services, internet, office and mobile telephone services, as well as the council’s e-security protection services”.

The report also proposes including Harrogate Borough Council within the same contract.