High speed broadband is finally on the way to the Forest.

An announcement today revealed the provider is BT for the £35 million project, which is earmarked as a pilot scheme for the border area of the county with Herefordshire.

The Forester has campaigned for faster broadband in conjunction with the Federation of Small Businesses and editor Viv Hargreaves said: "I'm delighted that at last our businesses and householders can look forward to faster broadband. It's been a long journey."

Chairman of the FSB Don Burgess said: "This has got to be an improvement for the Dean but we're going to be years behind a lot of other areas – and businesses looking to relocate may decide not to come in this direction.

"It's a serious black mark over attracting more investment.

"On the domestic front we are never going to get that good a digital TV service down the aerial. Bandwidth is a prerequisite."

Leader of Forest of Dean District Council Patrick Molyneux said: "We are very pleased to have it here in the Forest Its need is crucial.

"It makes sense. It would help our economy, especially in this modern age when we are competing with the rest of the world. It's absolutely essential for the Forest and our small businesses.

"We also need high speed broadband for education purposes – students need it for homework.

"High speed broadband is now a part of our lives and I think it would be a huge benefit to the Forest."

By 2015, the fibre optic network will provide a speed of two megabits-per- second, but by 2018, this will increase to 30 megabits with as close to 100 per cent coverage across the county.

Gloucestershire County Council has made a public investment of £7.5 million in the Borders Broadband project, which is managed by Gloucestershire County Council, Gloucestershire's Local Enterprise Partnership, Herefordshire Council and government agency Broadband Delivery UK.

The project was awarded £14.4 million out of a pot of £530 million, set aside by the Government, to develop high speed rural broadband.

According to Lakers School, students would benefit greatly from having high speed broadband access at home.

IT manager Richard Hatch said: "For school broadband we have a leased line for high speed internet, which allows for the use of the Virtual Learning Environment, email and high speed internet.

"If students are able to have high speed internet at home, that means they can access all these features, plus have access to a remote school desktop."