AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into how mobile phone companies can provide better coverage in Gloucestershire.


County councillors voted unanimously in July to give the Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee powers to enact a full review on the matter.


The Department of Culture, Media & Sports was invited to meet with the committee and provide a presentation to the members. Their representative Lionel Spencer spoke about the challenges that have faced the government in their Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP) scheme, and answered questions from the members present.


Following the presentation, the committee set out the next steps on their mission to provide mobile coverage to those areas that currently experience little or no signal.


Shropshire County Council has been through a similar process with the phone operators, and it was decided that liaising with them on best practice to inform the committee's next steps.


The committee will then invite representatives from the mobile phone companies to Shire Hall to present them with the data and establish the true picture of coverage in Gloucestershire, and lobby them to find out their detailed plans for the county.


Cllr Paul Hodgkinson, chairman of the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee, said: "Residents and businesses often raise the issue of poor mobile coverage with me, so I'm pleased to be heading up this committee as we lobby phone operators to address the issue in the county.


"We want to do everything possible to bring the county into the 21st Century, so that businesses and residents have a decent mobile signal wherever they are in Gloucestershire. It's an essential part of modern life and a key driver for boosting the local economy.


"The scrutiny committee is working hard to convince the mobile phone operators that Gloucestershire is a county worth investing in and we will be inviting them to Shire Hall to discuss this and to let them know how important it is to get rid of the 'not spots' in our area."