IT looks like the district could be getting a push into the 21st century with the arrival of superfast broadband.

Teignbridge Council has agreed to pump £250,000 into the Connecting Devon and Somerset project, which aims to see 95 per cent of the district enjoying the broadband by 2017.

Councillors had initially been asked to fork out £500,000 towards the project, but it was not clear what they would get from the money, so the council agreed to provide half of that.

Details on what the deal would involve were scarce.

Phil Shears, deputy chief executive, said: ‘We are still not in a position to guarantee what the money will deliver.’

But he did reassure councillors that the money the council invested would only be spent in the district.

Cllr Mike Hocking said: ‘If we want to encourage businesses to come here we need it, and need 100 per cent coverage.’

Leader of the council, Jeremy Christophers, told members that to be at the table for the discussions, they needed to provide the money, and a decision on whether the council wanted to invest had to be made before the tender process began in a few weeks.

But Lib-Dem leader Cllr Gordon Hook was a bit sceptical of putting the cash forward without knowing the certainties of the deal.

He was backed up by Cllr Dave Rollason, who said he was concerned that the council was not getting value for money, adding that the authority needs to know what they are getting before committing.

But the pair were overruled and councillors agreed to the £250,000 investment.