A LACK of super fast broadband in Kempley could force rural businesses to move out of the village.

Martin Brocklehurst, who works from Kempley dealing with clients across Europe, believes the slow development of fast broadband in the UK is damaging the rural economy.

The nearest telephone exchange to Kempley is over 1.5 miles. The village is connected to it by a copper wire line which only provides speeds of around 1.3Mbps.

Martin Brocklehurst said: "Unless we get ultrafast broad band as the demands of new IT systems grow it will just become impossible to operate from places like Kempley. Business interests will have to move elsewhere.

"I cannot take part in conference calls requiring sound, video, text and documentation systems because the infrastructure is not good enough."

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