A PRESTIGIOUS award has been dished out to Lancaster University for its work with community broadband net-works.

It has won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for higher and further education for the net-works rolled out by its Information Systems Services Directorate.' The prize recognises the uni's achievement in delivering the largest last-mile' regional broad-band infrastructure in Europe across the largely rural region of North Lancs and Cumbria.

Groups all over the area have benefited from low-cost, high capacity broadband networks developed at Lancaster.

Cllr Hazel Harding, leader of Lancashire County Council, says: "The partnership meant that children in small remote primary schools could access information and knowledge. It has made a big difference for these schools."