A council has accepted £3.8million towards a project which aims to "increase adoption of 5G connectivity".

Oxfordshire County Council approved the funding at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

This was after a motion was proposed by Abingdon South Liberal Democrat councillor Neil Fawcett and seconded by fellow party member Dr Nathan Ley, who represents Abingdon North.

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The cabinet had been recommended to approve implementation of the project, known as 'England's Connected Heartland', after Oxfordshire was successfully awarded the maximum grant of £3.8million as part of a competitive funding bid for setting up 10 of these 5G Innovation Regions.

Mr Fawcett said: "This is a small part of a much larger government programme to roll out wireless networking using 5G throughout the country."

Oxford Mail: Dr Nathan LeyDr Nathan Ley (Image: Unknown)The Abingdon South councillor added that Oxfordshire was leading one of the larger projects and said "we should be very proud".

Participating regions include Buckinghamshire Council, all Berkshire Authorities, Central Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority in addition to lead authority Oxfordshire County Council.

The authorities will be responsible for "driving adoption of 5G with each region focusing on one or two key sectors which are relevant to the composition of the region".

All capital and resource costs for the project are sourced by the funding and a proportion of the council's ringfenced fund, with no new further funding sought from the authority's budget.

Dr Ley, who is also cabinet member for public health, inequalities and community safety, made reference to the "entirely positive" nature of the report presented to cabinet.

He added: "Some people might be worried that we're heating up our area but this will be spread across the country hopefully."