EVERY main road in Southend could be dug up to bring superfast broadband to the borough, councillors say.

Just under 27 miles of road in Southend would have the new equipment installed.

Council leader Ron Woodley, speaking at a meeting of the Chalkwell Residents’ Association, said fast internet speeds would benefit residents and businesses alike.

Mr Woodley said: “I’m hoping in the next few weeks to announce the new provider for the high speed broadband work.

“Once the contract has been awarded, it will mean 43km of road will be dug up to lay the required infrastructure.

“The scary things is we will be digging up many of our roads, but the positive thing is in the end we will have superfast broadband, and homes and businesses will benefit.

“This is us being forward thinking.

We can’t just rely on BT. This is about taking it to another gear of service to the residents of the town.”

Martin Terry, councillor responsible for highways, added: “Forty-three kilometres probably looks like all the main roads and key distributors will feed off that.

“We are much stricter now on quality when it comes to digging up the roads, and contractors have to have a licence now to open the road.

“This means we know when they’re doing it and we inspect the work to make sure they’re doing it to the correct standard and putting things back as they were before.”

The process would not cost the taxpayer a penny, Mr Woodley said, as all spending would be made by the company providing the broadband.