January 29 Letters: Drive to bring rural areas up to speed online

From: Peter Charlesworth, Chairman, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Leyburn.

Julie Wyatt highlights  the need for a supply of well-paid jobs within the National Park, especially in IT (The Yorkshire Post, January 19). I couldn’t agree more. In fact, the policies of the National Park Authority and its partners – set out in the National Park Management Plan – strongly encourage such businesses.

Why would they not when they are exactly the sort of low-impact jobs that are suited to one of the finest landscapes in England?

I would suggest that the current lack of such jobs  has more to do with the fact  that, for years, the private telecoms companies have  put profit above service  and left most of the National Park – and most remote  rural areas generally –  without the high-speed broadband needed to support those jobs.

That is why North Yorkshire Country Council, with the full support of both National Park Authorities, is leading the country in driving forward  the roll-out of superfast broadband across rural  North Yorkshire.