Research and analysis

North Yorkshire PSAT case study

Published 10 September 2026

1. Overview of the North Yorkshire LFFN project

The North Yorkshire Local Full Fibre Network(LFFN) project was a Public Sector Anchor Tenancy(PSAT) intervention with a total value of £15.1m, fully funded through the LFFN programme. The project was delivered by NYnet, the telecommunications company owned by North Yorkshire County Council, which already provided connectivity services to a large proportion of the county’s public sector organisations.

The investment focused on upgrading connectivity across the public sector estate by delivering new fibre infrastructure to sites across the county. The project initially aimed to connect 391 public sector sites, although this was reduced to around 323 sites by completion due to factors such as school mergers, site closures and local government reorganisation. The sites connected included local authorities, fire and rescue services, two NHS trusts, all GP practices and a large number of schools across the county.

2. Focus of the case study

Although the North Yorkshire LFFN project connected a large number of public sector sites, this case study focuses primarily on the organisational and strategic benefits that have emerged for North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC). Following an initial interview with NYnet, it was agreed that the elapsed time since many of the connections were delivered would make it difficult to identify and engage contacts at individual public sector sites. The case study therefore concentrates on how the infrastructure has been used at a strategic level by the council and its partners.

The case study explores:

• How the LFFN infrastructure supported the delivery of North Yorkshire’s digital strategy

• The development of further initiatives built on the network, including public Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN deployment

• Extensions to the network and additional uses of the infrastructure beyond the original project scope

• The role of NYnet as a publicly owned telecommunications provider in enabling the council to realise wider benefits from the investment

Interviews were conducted with NYnet (two representatives) and the former lead for digital transformation at NYCC. 

3. Supporting North Yorkshire’s Digital Strategy

NYCC already had a formal digital strategy in place before LFFN funding became available. The strategy set out a vision “to become a smart County that uses technology in our operations and service delivery to improve the outcomes and the lives of the people we serve.” It focused on how digital technologies could support service transformation, improved outcomes for residents and more efficient public services.

A central component of the strategy was the recognition that reliable, high-quality digital infrastructure would be essential to delivering these ambitions, particularly in a large and predominantly rural county where commercial investment in connectivity was limited. Many of the services the council wanted to develop, including technology-enabled care, smarter infrastructure management and more digitally enabled public services, depended on consistent connectivity across a wide geographic area.

Providing digital infrastructure was therefore identified as one of five priorities within the council’s digital strategy, alongside ambitions to accelerate digital transformation in public services and develop “digital and smart communities”. Interviewees emphasised that connectivity underpinned these wider ambitions.

Having this strategic framework in place meant that the council was well positioned to take advantage of the LFFN opportunity when it emerged. The interviewee from NYCC explained that North Yorkshire already had a clear vision of how improved connectivity would support its wider digital ambitions. As a result, the programme was not approached as a standalone infrastructure project but as a means of delivering an existing strategy. They noted that hat LFFN was “almost written” for North Yorkshire’s model because the strategy already identified connectivity and infrastructure as a foundation for everything else, and NYnet’s role as a public sector focused network operator matched LFFN’s emphasis on connecting public assets first.

Interviewees repeatedly emphasised that this alignment between strategy and investment was a key factor in the project’s success. In their view, LFFN worked well in North Yorkshire because it plugged directly into a clear strategic vision. Where similar projects elsewhere focused primarily on delivering infrastructure, North Yorkshire approached LFFN as a way of enabling wider transformation. By delivering the connectivity that the council already knew it needed, the programme helped create the conditions for a range of digital initiatives, including the deployment of smart technologies, expanded public Wi-Fi provision and more data-driven approaches to service delivery. These were all long-standing ambitions within the council’s strategy that LFFN made possible to implement at scale.

“we knew where we wanted to go and then when the opportunities come up, you can go for them, which is why I think we did such a strong job on LFFN because of that strategy and because we knew what we wanted to achieve with sensors, monitors, smart [technologies]”

4. Providing a platform for further digital initiatives

Interviewees consistently described the LFFN investment as foundational infrastructure that enabled a range of subsequent digital initiatives. In North Yorkshire, the fibre network delivered through LFFN created the connectivity backbone needed to support new services and technologies across the county. As one interviewee from NYnet explained:

“I would always say that LFFN is the foundation of pretty much everything that we’ve done since then and everything we’ve done since then wouldn’t have worked without it.”

This foundation meant the council was well positioned to take advantage of further funding opportunities when they emerged. In particular, North Yorkshire secured £3m from the Government’s Getting Building Fund, which supported shovel-ready projects intended to aid economic recovery following COVID-19. Interviewees explained that the council was able to develop proposals quickly because it had already identified a set of initiatives it wanted to deliver as part of its wider digital strategy, and the LFFN network provided the infrastructure needed to implement them.

The projects funded through this programme included the rollout of free public Wi-Fi across market towns, a county-wide Long Range Wide Area Network(LoRaWAN) network, and fibre extensions to business estates. As one interviewee noted:

“So when we got opportunities through the back of COVID around building back better, we already had ideas that we wanted to push… building on the top of LFFN, [we want to] utilise that network to roll out a LoRaWAN network to the whole of North Yorkshire… we want to roll out free Wi-Fi to our high streets across 20 market towns in North Yorkshire and we want to roll out fibre to some business estates that are desperately needed to do that. And we were able to pull that together in no time at all, and got another £3m.”

4.1 Delivering public Wi-fi in market towns

One of the most visible outcomes associated with the North Yorkshire LFFN project has been the rollout of free public Wi-Fi across 20 market towns. Interviewees from both NYCC and NYnet described this as one of the most significant initiatives enabled by the LFFN infrastructure.

Providing free Wi-Fi in town centres had been a long-standing ambition for the council prior to LFFN. While it was not linked to a single policy objective, interviewees explained that it supported several priorities:

• Digital inclusion and affordability: Free Wi-Fi enables residents to carry out everyday online tasks without relying on mobile data, which can be expensive for those using pay-as-you-go tariffs. Interviewees noted that activities such as applying for jobs, managing NHS appointments or making video calls can quickly consume mobile data allowances, making free access points particularly valuable for residents without unlimited mobile contracts.

• Town centre vitality:  Market towns and high streets are key locations where residents gather and access services. Providing reliable public connectivity was seen as helping to support local businesses and market traders by making town centres more attractive places for people to spend time.

• Supporting the visitor economy:  Interviewees also highlighted the importance of connectivity for visitors and tourists. Providing free Wi-Fi in popular town centres was viewed as a way to improve the visitor experience and support local tourism-related businesses.

Interviewees emphasised that the rollout of public Wi-Fi would not have been feasible without the infrastructure delivered through LFFN. The programme created the fibre backbone required to provide reliable backhaul connectivity in market towns, while the presence of connected public sector buildings created convenient connection points for Wi-Fi access points. As the interviewee from the council explained:

“We wouldn’t have been able to do that without LFFN because we wouldn’t have the connectivity in those market towns”

NYnet also highlighted that public Wi-Fi would not have been viable without the infrastructure delivered through LFFN. Delivering the service through commercial connectivity providers would have created significant ongoing costs, making it difficult to sustain. Interviewees noted that while capital funding for infrastructure can often be secured, the revenue costs of operating services such as public Wi-Fi are much harder to fund. As one NYnet interviewee explained:

“Public Wi-Fi would not have happened. The numbers would have never stacked up to make it work.”

Alongside the free public Wi-Fi service, the network also broadcasts Govroam (for public sector users) and Eduroam (for education users). Usage data provided by NYnet indicates that the network is being used extensively. In one week in early March 2026, around 42,000 devices connected to the public Wi-Fi network, including approximately 12,300 connections to Eduroam. NYCC noted that Eduroam usage was “significantly higher than expected”, suggesting that the network is supporting educational use by residents. Interviewees reported that weekly usage can be as high as 70,000 devices during peak season.

The data also provides other insights into how the network is being used. Interviewees reported large spikes in usage during school holidays in popular visitor destinations such as Scarborough, indicating significant use by tourists. They also noted examples of users downloading very large files, such as gaming updates, which they interpreted as a sign that some users may not have reliable connectivity available elsewhere.

Finally, interviewees from NYnet reported they had recently begun funding the expansion of public Wi-Fi to three additional towns on a commercial basis. They explained that this has become viable because the LFFN project created a substantial fibre backbone across the county. With the core infrastructure already in place, the remaining costs relate primarily to local installation rather than building and operating an entirely new network, making further expansion commercially feasible.

4.2 LoRaWAN and sensor networks

North Yorkshire’s digital strategy had long identified the deployment of sensors and “Internet of Things” technologies as a priority, with the aim of improving service delivery and enabling more effective monitoring of assets and infrastructure across the county. However, delivering these types of technologies at scale presented particular challenges in a large and predominantly rural area. Interviewees explained that mobile coverage across much of North Yorkshire is poor, making it difficult to rely on conventional mobile networks to support county-wide digital monitoring or connected devices.

As a result, the council identified LoRaWAN technology as a potential solution. LoRaWAN enables low-power devices such as sensors to transmit small amounts of data over long distances, making it well suited to rural environments and applications such as environmental monitoring.

Interviewees emphasised that the LFFN project played an important role in enabling the deployment of this network by providing the underlying fibre connectivity needed to support many of the LoRaWAN gateways. Because LFFN had already connected public sector buildings across the county, these sites could act as convenient locations for installing gateways, with the fibre network providing backhaul connectivity. This was described by NYnet as a “layering model”, where the fibre backbone enables public Wi-Fi services and then provides the connectivity needed to support additional technologies such as LoRaWAN.

The LoRaWAN network has now been deployed across most of the county, with interviewees reporting very high geographic coverage. Estimates varied slightly between interviewees, with North Yorkshire Council reporting around 97% coverage in testing, while NYnet suggested that effective coverage is closer to 85%. Interviewees also noted that not all gateways are connected directly to the LFFN fibre network, meaning the LoRaWAN network cannot be fully attributed to LFFN. However, where gateways are connected to the fibre backbone, the network benefits from reliable backhaul connectivity without requiring additional connectivity costs.

Interviewees emphasised that many of the applications of the sensor network are still at an exploratory stage, with the council using the network as a “sandbox” to test how sensor data could support service improvements. Progress has also been affected by wider organisational changes, including the recent reorganisation that merged eight councils to create North Yorkshire Council, which interviewees reported had diverted attention away from some innovation projects.

Despite this, a number of practical applications have already been implemented. These uses were not referenced in the original business case, suggesting that new applications have emerged over time as organisations have begun to make use of the infrastructure. Examples cited by interviewees include

• air quality sensors in care homes and schools, which are intended to improve ventilation and reduce the spread of airborne illnesses,

• people-counting sensors in libraries and art galleries, which provide insights into how public spaces are used.

• a pilot project using sensors to support waste collection services in Harrogate, where sensors installed in bins provide data on fill levels and temperature. Over time, this data can reveal patterns in how different collection routes are used, supporting more efficient service planning.

Interviewees also described several potential future applications that the network is expected to support. These include technology-enabled care solutions such as falls monitoring for vulnerable residents, environmental monitoring such as road temperature sensors to inform gritting decisions, and trials exploring flood monitoring and automated road closures. NYnet also highlighted the potential for automated Legionella monitoring, which could reduce the need for manual inspections and generate operational savings.

Overall, interviewees emphasised that while many of these applications are still developing, the LoRaWAN network has created a platform that allows the council to experiment with new technologies and explore how sensor data could support more efficient and responsive public services across the county.

4.3 Extensions to the network

Interviewees explained that the fibre infrastructure delivered through LFFN has continued to expand since the completion of the original project. NYnet’s operational focus is on providing connectivity to public sector organisations and business premises; it does not deliver residential broadband connections.

NYnet reported that it continues to extend the fibre network on a regular basis, supported by an in-house fibre team responsible for ongoing network development. The organisation now employs dedicated fibre engineers who carry out network expansion work across the county, and additional communications cabinets have been added to the network since the completion of the LFFN project. While the scale of these extensions was not quantified, interviewees emphasised that the network continues to grow as new opportunities arise.

NYnet has begun connecting business parks using the LFFN network as the underlying infrastructure. This work was supported by funding from the Getting Building Fund and has enabled fibre connectivity to be delivered in locations that previously had very limited broadband services. The extension of the fibre network has allowed these businesses to access high-capacity fibre services, often at lower cost than their previous connectivity. Interviewees estimated that around 45 businesses are now connected to the same full-fibre network, generating a new revenue stream for the council.

The network has also expanded to connect additional public sector organisations beyond those included in the original LFFN scope. One significant example highlighted by interviewees was the addition of North Yorkshire Police, which required extending the network to reach police sites across the county. Interviewees explained that this work builds directly on the LFFN infrastructure, and was delivered by extending the existing fibre network to new locations.

Across these examples, interviewees consistently emphasised that these extensions have been possible because LFFN created a substantial underlying network. By establishing the initial fibre backbone and connecting a large number of public sector buildings, the project reduced the costs and complexity associated with connecting additional sites. The implications of this approach, and the extent to which LFFN infrastructure has supported further commercial and public sector connectivity, will be explored in more detail in Work Package 4, Additional Uses of LFFN Infrastructure.

5. Enabling innovation and ambition

Interviewees also suggested that the LFFN programme had a broader organisational impact by increasing the council’s confidence and ambition around digital innovation. Rather than being seen solely as a connectivity upgrade, the programme was described as helping to change how the council thought about what could be achieved through technology.

In particular, the interviewee from NYCC reported that the presence of reliable full-fibre connectivity across the county helped to shift internal discussions from whether digital initiatives were feasible to how the infrastructure could be used to support new approaches to service delivery. This created greater confidence that new technologies and digitally enabled services could be deployed across a large and predominantly rural authority.

They suggested that this contributed to a stronger culture of experimentation and innovation within the organisation:

“It created an ambition and a spirit around we can do more, we can trial more, we can do better.”

They also emphasised that the programme helped to reshape how the council perceived its role in digital transformation, encouraging the organisation to see itself as capable of leading innovation rather than simply adopting solutions developed elsewhere. They believed this shift in mindset has had lasting effects across the organisation, which has helped to support ongoing work around smart technologies, data and digitally enabled services

“It created an ambition within the council around how we could be digital innovators, digital disruptors in what we did….That ambition permeates through the organisation.”

6. NYnet as a key enabler

The interviewee from NYCC emphasised that the presence of NYnet, the council-owned telecommunications provider, was a critical factor in translating the LFFN investment into wider benefits. While LFFN provided the funding to build the fibre infrastructure, they suggested that the existence of an established public sector network operator meant the council already had the capability and organisational structure needed to deliver the project and subsequently build on it.

In particular, NYnet provided delivery capacity and technical expertise, allowing the council to move quickly when the LFFN opportunity emerged. Interviewees described NYnet as operating with a degree of commercial agility while remaining closely aligned with public sector objectives. This enabled the project to be delivered efficiently and rapidly.

“You’ve got the best of both worlds because you’ve got a public sector organisation that’s run with a private sector mentality, but understands how it needs to bridge between the two.”

The interviewee also highlighted the importance of public ownership of the network in enabling the infrastructure to be reused and extended over time. Because NYnet already connected many public sector sites, the LFFN investment created a network of connection points that could be expanded at relatively low cost. This made it possible to add new services and users by extending the existing network rather than building new infrastructure from scratch. Interviewees suggested that many of these initiatives would have been difficult to justify under a purely commercial model, where providers would typically seek to recover higher infrastructure and connectivity costs. As a result, they argued that having an established public sector network operator enabled a range of benefits that otherwise would not have been possible, and delivered better public value.

““We’re not offering this because it’s profitable. We’re offering it because it’s the right thing to do because we own the network. It’s marginal costing. So that is great public value.”

Reflecting on the wider lessons from North Yorkshire’s experience, interviewees emphasised that infrastructure alone is not sufficient to generate wider benefits. In their view, the key factor was the combination of LFFN investment with an organisation capable of actively developing and extending the network, supported by a clear strategic vision for how it would be used. This allowed the infrastructure to be reused, expanded and applied to a range of digital initiatives over time. Interviewees suggested that this model may be particularly valuable in large rural areas, where commercial investment is often more limited and the costs of extending connectivity can otherwise be prohibitive. Similar models of public or jointly owned network organisations were a feature of several Public Sector Asset Reuse(PSAR) and PSAT projects, suggesting that this experience has relevance beyond North Yorkshire.

However the interviewee also emphasised that the success of this model was not automatic. They noted that NYnet’s role has been developed over more than two decades and has depended on sustained organisational commitment, skilled staff and strong political and leadership support.  In their view, public ownership of fibre infrastructure can create the conditions for wider public value, but without continued investment, clear strategy and active development capacity, the potential benefits of such assets may not be fully realised.

7. Benefits for public services

As part of this case study we did not conduct interviews with individual sites or service delivery organisations connected through the network. The evidence presented here therefore reflects the views of interviewees from North Yorkshire Council and NYnet, rather than first-hand evidence from frontline service providers. Interviewees nonetheless described several ways in which the LFFN network has supported public service delivery across the county.

7.1 Increased bandwidth and future-proofed capacity

Interviewees reported that the transition to the full-fibre network resulted in a significant uplift in connectivity for most public sector sites. Many organisations moved from legacy copper services to higher-capacity fibre connections, while sites already on fibre were able to access higher speeds. Interviewees emphasised that the network provides substantial underlying capacity, enabling organisations to scale bandwidth as demand grows. This was described as creating a more robust baseline for digital services, supporting applications such as cloud platforms, video conferencing and other bandwidth-intensive tools used in modern public services.

7.2 Improved reliability and resilience

Interviewees also highlighted improvements in network reliability compared with legacy copper connections. Fibre connectivity was reported to experience fewer faults and faster fault resolution times, helping to reduce the risk of service disruption. For health services in particular, interviewees emphasised that reliable connectivity is essential for accessing clinical systems and patient information, meaning outages can disrupt service delivery. In some cases the network has also enabled improved resilience by allowing sites to have multiple connectivity routes, reducing the risk of single points of failure.

7.3 Greater flexibility and operational responsiveness

The network was also described as providing greater flexibility for public sector organisations. Because substantial capacity is already available, sites can increase bandwidth quickly in response to changing operational needs, often without requiring new infrastructure. Interviewees reported that upgrades can sometimes be delivered the same day, enabling organisations to respond rapidly to spikes in demand or temporary events such as election counts.

7.4 Supporting more flexible ways of working

Interviewees suggested that improved connectivity across multiple sites has also supported more flexible ways of working. In particular, reliable high-capacity connectivity enables staff to collaborate remotely using tools such as video conferencing and shared digital platforms. Following the reorganisation of local government in North Yorkshire, this has helped support a more distributed working model, allowing staff to work from different hubs across the county without needing to travel to locations with better connectivity.

7.5 Cost savings and cost avoidance

Finally, interviewees highlighted a number of financial benefits associated with the network. Once fibre capacity is in place, increasing bandwidth is relatively inexpensive compared with legacy connectivity services, allowing organisations to scale their connectivity without incurring significant upgrade costs. Interviewees also described examples where the network enabled more cost-effective resilience solutions for NHS sites and avoided the need for schools and other organisations to procure higher-cost connectivity services from commercial providers. Because NYnet is owned by the council, interviewees noted that financial surpluses generated through network operations ultimately contribute to wider public value.

8. Conclusions

This case study provides evidence on several of the Work Package 3 research questions relating to the benefits of LFFN infrastructure for local authorities and how it has supported wider digital initiatives in North Yorkshire.

8.1 Benefits to public sector organisations

This case study does not provide first-hand evidence from frontline service providers on the benefits for public services. Interviewees nonetheless reported that the transition to the LFFN full-fibre network resulted in significant improvements in connectivity for many public sector sites across the county. These included increases in available bandwidth, improved reliability and greater network resilience.

Interviewees suggested that these improvements have supported the adoption of modern digital tools and services, enabled more flexible ways of working and reduced the operational risks associated with connectivity failures. They also described examples of cost savings or cost avoidance where organisations were able to scale bandwidth or improve resilience at lower cost than under previous connectivity arrangements.

8.2 Supporting delivery of North Yorkshire’s digital strategy

A central finding from the case study is that the LFFN investment played an important role in supporting North Yorkshire’s existing digital strategy. Prior to the programme, the council had already identified the need for high-quality digital infrastructure as a foundation for wider ambitions around digital public services, smart technologies and data-driven approaches to service delivery. The LFFN project provided the connectivity backbone needed to realise these ambitions. By delivering full-fibre connectivity to a large number of public sector sites across the county, the programme created the infrastructure platform on which subsequent digital initiatives could be developed.

This case study is also notable in providing rare evidence of authority‑wide benefits from an LFFN investment. Earlier evaluations, including the Gigahubs programme and the LFFN Wave One evaluation, focused largely on impacts at individual sites. In contrast, the North Yorkshire experience shows how benefits can be realised across a whole organisation where connectivity investment is clearly aligned with an authority‑wide digital strategy.

8.3 Building digital initiatives on top of the network

Following delivery of the network, North Yorkshire implemented a range of initiatives that built directly on the LFFN infrastructure. These included the rollout of free public Wi-Fi across market towns, the deployment of a county-wide LoRaWAN network to support sensor technologies and extensions of fibre connectivity to business parks and additional public sector organisations. Interviewees emphasised that these initiatives were made possible because the LFFN network created a substantial fibre backbone across the county, reducing the cost and complexity of connecting additional sites and services. In particular, the rollout of public wifi in market towns was seen as a significant achievement, enabled by LFFN, which is helping the council to deliver on a number of its priorities.

8.4 Key enabling factors

Interviewees identified several factors that enabled North Yorkshire to realise benefits from the LFFN investment. In addition to the existing digital strategy, these included access to further funding and strong delivery capability

North Yorkshire secured £3m from the Getting Building Fund, which supported the rollout of several initiatives built on the LFFN network, including public Wi-Fi, LoRaWAN and fibre connections to business estates. However, interviewees emphasised that this funding bid itself was only possible because the LFFN infrastructure had already been delivered and the council had clear plans for how it wanted to build on it.

Finally, interviewees emphasised the importance of NYnet as a publicly owned telecommunications provider. The organisation provided the technical capability to deliver the project and to continue extending and exploiting the network over time. Its public ownership model also enabled the infrastructure to be reused and extended at relatively low marginal cost, allowing the council to pursue initiatives that may not have been commercially viable under a purely private-sector delivery model.

Overall, the North Yorkshire case study illustrates how the benefits of infrastructure investment can be significantly enhanced where it is combined with a clear strategic vision, delivery capability and the ability to build further initiatives on top of the initial network.

8.5 Relevance to other publicly owned networks

The North Yorkshire case study is particularly relevant to other programmes where fibre infrastructure has been delivered through public or jointly owned network operators, including PSAR projects and a small number of PSAT projects with similar ownership models. It shows that where local authorities retain control of network assets and delivery capability, connectivity investment can be actively reused and extended over time, rather than remaining a one‑off capital intervention.

In North Yorkshire, the presence of NYnet as an established delivery body meant the council was able not only to deliver the initial LFFN project, but to continue developing the network through additional initiatives, partnerships and investment. This allowed the fibre infrastructure to act as a platform for wider digital activity. The case study demonstrates that publicly owned networks are most effective where they form part of a long‑term approach to network development, supported by organisational capacity, political backing and a clear strategic intention to build on the asset.

Experience from other publicly owned network projects reinforces this learning, while also highlighting the scale of effort involved. Interviewees from PSAR projects such as Cambridgeshire and Colchester pointed to the time and complexity involved in navigating subsidy control requirements and establishing sustainable operating models, while others, including Stoke and Bristol, described how progress had been disrupted by changes in delivery partners or wider market conditions. Taken together, this suggests that public ownership can enable greater public value, but only where there is sustained commitment, specialist capability and a realistic understanding of the time and risk involved. These lessons are therefore relevant both to existing PSAR and some PSAT projects and to other local authorities considering whether to establish their own digital network.