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'Internet spending crucial for rural life'
FARMING and business leaders have claimed the Government's failure to promote investment in technology is putting the future of rural communities and businesses at risk.
The Country Land and Business Association says rural areas are being left behind when it comes to internet access and mobile phone reception and said a lack of action is hampering countryside economies.
The call for more investment follows a recommendation from the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) that the government should not fund a new fibre optic network, a move the CLA called "seriously blinkered".
As well as restricting the development of countryside business, CLA members have warned that the lack of connectivity is jeopardising farmers' health and safety and rural tourism.
The national deputy president of the CLA, William Worsley, is among those campaigning against what the organisation calls a "broadband divide".
As well as being a farmer, Mr Worsley is the chairman of Scarborough Building Society and helps run several other businesses from his home in Hovingham in North Yorkshire.
He said: "The internet is hugely important and places which cannot get broadband are hugely disadvantaged.
"I have been to areas of the Alps and went to remote parts of Spain in August and found places which had extremely good broadband.
"With the companies involved they know there is not a lot money in rural areas and therefore it is not of interest. But these areas cannot survive without the businesses.
"Speaking as a farmer, from the health and safety point of view, people in many instances are working alone and if you have not got a working mobile phone that is an issue.
"You need to diversify to run a successful business and not having broadband or decent phone coverage puts you at a major disadvantage.
"There has got to be a push from government on broadband and mobile phone players. We aim to raise the profile of this issue by lobbying hard with the Government at the highest level and by making people aware of the issues."
Among those struggling with poor connectivity is Sally Robinson, who runs a web-based lingerie business from Old Byland, near Sutton Bank employing 10 people.
Mrs Robinson has been in business for nine years and has to use an expensive satellite-based provider as her business is not serviced by conventional cable broadband.
She said: "If the Government wants us to become an information-based economy then we have to be able to access this knowledge – and you need the internet to do this.
"Everything everybody does relies on being contactable. People coming to stay at rural holiday homes expect to have the internet. We need people starting business up to keep life in the rural areas just to keep things ticking over.
"We managed to bring water, electricity and telephone lines to rural regions – this is just another step that needs to be taken. Farmers get less help as they are not deemed viable in smaller plots – it just seems they keep chipping away at rural life."
The CLA's president Henry Aubrey-Fletcher called for a partnership between the public and private sectors an aim of achieving total fibre optic availability within 15 years.
The CLA's concerns remain despite attempts to tackle the problem, including the launch of NYnet, which aims to promote an ultra-high-speed internet network for North Yorkshire.
NYnet was formed last year in a collaboration between the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, and North Yorkshire County Council, with funding from the European Union.
One of the report's authors Francesco Caio claimed there was little evidence that in the short term the UK was going to suffer from the lack of a next generation network.
His report also called for a re-examination of overhead lines, particularly in rural areas, as a means of delivering broadband.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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