Almost 19,000 properties across Allerdale can now benefit from superfast broadband thanks to the Connecting Cumbria project.

Cumbria County Council and BT are working together to bring access to high-speed connections to 93 per cent of the county by the end of the year.

So far 23 fibre-enabled cabinets have been installed in the Cockermouth area, bringing potential benefits to 6,150 properties.

In Harrington, 3,350 properties can benefit, along with 3,100 in Keswick, 2,050 in Wigton, 1,300 in Aspatria, 900 in Workington and 800 in Silloth.

In Maryport, the scheme has been rolled out to cover 650 properties, with 250 at Caldbeck, 200 in Allonby and 40 at Bassenthwaite.

Work is under way to provide access to high-speed connections to 3,620 more Allerdale properties.

They include 550 in Aspatria, 500 in Keswick, 250 in Cockermouth, 200 in Harrington, 200 in Silloth, 150 in Workington, 150 in Lorton, 100 in Allonby and 70 at Bassenthwaite.

Further work is planned at areas including Abbeytown, Allonby, Aspatria, Borrowdale, Braithwaite, Cockermouth, Maryport, Silloth and Workington.

Through a combination of the project and commercial roll outs, it is hoped that 93 per cent of the county will have access to superfast broadband.

More than two thirds of properties should be able to access speeds of more than 50Mbps, with some achieving up to 80Mbps.

The speeds are a vast improvement as some Cumbrian properties can currently only receive speeds of less than 2Mbps.

Higher speeds are not automatic, though, and customers will need to sign up to a fibre broadband service from their chosen supplier.

The council has a contractual target to upgrade connections for more than 115,000 properties by December 1, through phase one of the project.

Take up of services is important to allow the project to reach beyond its current targets as take up beyond an agreed level will trigger further investment from BT.

The council is lobbying government for more funding and development of further phases of the project.

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership hopes to see broadband access to all Cumbrian properties.