A PLEDGE by Gordon Brown last week that every home in Britain will be given broadband access has one major flaw, say rural business owners: it fails to explain how remoter countryside villages will be hooked up.

We continue to say that without broadband, rural business remains uncompetitive

Douglas Chalmers - CLA

The Prime Minister gave his pledge after the Government issued the Digital Britain Report by Lord Carter. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) welcomes the “change of mind” but points out the plan “fails to say how rural areas are going to get connected.”

Douglas Chalmers, Director CLA North said: “The CLA has vigorously campaigned for affordable broadband in all rural areas in Britain. The fact that we have got so far is testament to our lobbying, as up until very recently the assumption was that everyone who wanted this service could have it “We continue to say that without broadband, rural business remains uncompetitive and the rural-urban digital divide is increasing as the pressure to communicate electronically comes from all directions.”

The CLA has written to Lord Carter asking three crucial questions:

• Why is the UK Government, unlike those in France, Germany and now Ireland, still refusing to provide significant public sector investment for a viable universal broadband network?
• What happens between now and 2012 when ‘broadband for all’ is rolled out?
• Is the Government prepared to accept that until investment is made, some rural businesses will be unable to perform to their full potential, and that some families will remain educationally and socially disadvantaged?”

Further information on the Digital Britain Report is available on www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/broadcasting