IMPROVED bus services and broadband speeds are key to business growth in County Durham, councillors claim.

Durham County Council’s economy and enterprise overview and scrutiny committee this week heard an update on regional funding for Durham.

This included the Local Growth Fund (LFG) for 2015-2021– a £270million pot that aims to boost jobs in the North East.

In the final round of LGF funding, the county got no direct investment with £41million going to the International Advanced Manufacturing Park in Sunderland. Remaining underspent funds were made available and bids reconsidered, with final grants set to be agreed for the Jade Business Park and Integra 61 project.

The investment is part of wider plans to improve transport infrastructure and create thousands of jobs, from a bid for a new rail station at Horden to the Aykley Heads business park.

In a meeting at County Hall on Tuesday, councillors said broadband connectivity and bus service problems could stand in the way of this goal.

Chairman Alison Batey said the issues could be seen during recent spates of extreme weather in the county.

He said: “The Beast from the East was a bit of an eye opener, people wanted to work from home but didn’t have the connectivity to do that.”

Cllr Ted Henderson said residents in rural places need improved bus services and broadband speeds.

“They need faster broadband and unless we’re going to try and provide them with both you may as well cut off the south west completely,” he said.

An ongoing Digital Durham scheme aims to extend broadband coverage to an extra 16,000 homes by the end of 2019, but the future of broadband rollout remains uncertain after that.

Co-opted member Rosemary Dunn stressed that broadband improvements would help make the county “investment ready” for larger industrial firms. She added the council could embrace more digital resources and build digital training centres in rural sites.

Cllr Stuart Dunn added bus services need to be available and affordable for under 25s which could help build the economy and retain jobs in County Durham.

Cllr Rob Crute called for a “county-wide” scheme to help improve future investment in the borough.

He said deregulation of bus services is an issue, as private operators fail to run services that are not economically viable.

“We’re entering a new phase where we’re hoping to move up the skills need in the county. Let’s not forget we need to get the transport links right as well,” he added.

Future plans for attracting growth in County Durham include an Investment Pipeline to help identify funding opportunities early and develop business cases. Upcoming funding streams include the UK Shared Prosperity Fund– replacing money local areas receive from the European Union– and emerging Government housing and road funds.