A full business case has been submitted to the Government for a multi-million pound scheme to provide ultra-fast broadband to key business areas in Bradford.

It was announced in March that Bradford and Leeds had been provisionally accepted onto the Super Connected Cities programme which would attract Government funding of between £10 and £15 million. Now the authorities have submitted a full business case and hope to hear shortly whether this has been successful.

The scheme is intended to provide speeds of 100Mbps or more to all premises within the core area – which is both city centres, out towards Shipley and the transport corridor into Bradford, as well as the Aire Valley.

In addition, it would offer free city centre wireless service, wireless connectivity for passengers on trains and buses between Bradford and Leeds, and wireless community hubs focusing on libraries. If the funding bid is successful the procurement process is expected to take until next summer, with the project fully completed by March 2015.

On top of the Government funding, about £22m of private sector investment will be sought, as well as a £2m bid to the European Regional Development Fund for “final mile connectivity”. A total of £4m of capital funding will also be required to be split between the two authorities.

David Cawthray, Bradford Council’s assistant director for information and customer services, said: “A full business case for Super Connected Cities has been submitted and we are waiting to hear from the DCMS whether our final bid is successful. We are looking at the core area to be from the boundary with Leeds, the transport corridor into Bradford, the city centre and out towards Shipley.”

In addition a further West Yorkshire-wide project is intended to deliver superfast broadband of 24Mbps to 90 per cent of the region by 2015, with the remaining ten per cent able to access a minimum speed of 2Mbps. Procurement on this Broadband Delivery UK commitment from the Government is expected to begin later this year.

Mr Cawthray said: “We are waiting for clearer information from the consultants on Bradford’s position in relation to the BDUK broadband delivery.”

A report on both projects is expected to go before the Council’s executive in October.

Earlier this month the Telegraph & Argus reported that one in ten homes in Bradford is missing out on basic broadband speeds. About 10.8 per cent of premises in Bradford do not receive 2Mbps which is the basic speed promised by the Government for every home and business by 2015.