A £3.2 MILLION cash boost can today be revealed for Worcestershire's superfast broadband crusade - after take-up outstripped the rest of the country.

Since the £28 million project kicked off in 2013 more than 6,000 people have signed up to the super-advanced internet speeds, very nearly one in every five of eligible households.

Under a contract stipulation with BT once take-up hits 20 per cent a 'clawback' mechanism kicks in where the company must put more money into it.

Your Worcester News can reveal how the firm's payment was not due until 2025 - but BT offered to bring it forward by an entire decade if Worcestershire County Council wanted it.

The Conservative leadership has decided to grab the extra funding now, vowing to earmark it towards "the very hard to reach" areas which will not be included in the current roll-out.

The current scheme will reach 55,000 properties by next June, with the aim of making superfast broadband available to 94 per cent of homes and businesses.

But the extra cash will now help an extra 3,000 properties, allowing it to rise up another notch.

Today, the Conservative cabinet voted to agree that the cash be released early, leaving officers to identify the very remote parts of Worcestershire most in need of upgrades.

A new report on the spending reveals how the current take-up rate is a whopping 40 per cent above other parts of Britain, making it among the UK's most successful.

Councillor Simon Geraghty, the deputy leader and cabinet member for economy, skills and infrastructure, said: "We are ahead of where other counties and other programmes are and reaching 20 per cent take-up means money will start coming back in from the contract.

"We've not got that opportunity to re-invest - this is an opportunity to go further and get to those hard-to-reach premises.

"It's very much a real success story for the county and something we should all be very proud of."

Councillor Adrian Hardman, the leader, said: "Clearly it's good news for the council that this contract is working in a very efficient way.

"There is a choice over this, we could wait until 2025 but it's in the interest of the residents of Worcestershire that we take this £3.2 million."

The report before the cabinet said take-up "is at nearly 20 per cent and continues to rise each month".

The extra funding will focus on "the remaining six per cent", taking account of where the demand is and value for money.

Some £2.1 million will be a new fund from BT while the rest is coming from savings made during the existing roll-out.

In recent months the scheme has been criticised by some Labour councillors, who say taxpayers should not be subsidising a BT-led project.

But Worcestershire's version of it, which is unique in that it includes 94 per cent of homes and businesses, rather than just residential properties, is seen as one of the best nationwide within Whitehall - heavily promoted with pink wraparound adverts and an increasingly strong social media presence.

* Want to know more? Visit the county council website promoting superfast broadband HERE.