Seven business parks in Colchester look set to benefit from superfast broadband after regional funding was secured for the scheme.

The South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) will give £200,000 from its Single Local Growth Fund to Colchester Borough Council to improve connectivity to the business parks or clusters around the borough.

Although the names of the centres due to receive the upgrade have not been revealed, as the information is classed as commercially sensitive, they will be sites not likely to be able to access superfast broadband from a commercial provider.

They are also not sites covered by the Superfast Essex programme, Essex County Council’s initiative to bring high-speed broadband to areas not already covered by commercial operators.

However two of the centres have been confirmed as the new Knowledge Gateway at the University of Essex and the Colchester Northern Gateway business parks.

According to the reporting authorising the grant the sites are currently home to 482 businesses and 8,196 employees.

It is hoped the scheme will attract firms to move to the business parks and allow them to be competitive.

A Colchester Borough Council spokesman said: “We are excited to bring greater broadband speeds to Colchester which will see increased speeds for connectivity and make our business areas an even more attractive place to work.”

The grant was backed by Essex County Council which approved the funding.

High-speed broadband is classed as 24 Megabits per second and above.