Lack of broadband limits use of social media in rural areas

The CLA today (12 July) said the lack of a suitable broadband connection makes it nearly impossible for rural businesses and communities to communicate.

The Association launched a Social Media Surgery at this weeks Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, providing practical advice to farmers and other rural residents and businesses to help them navigate the world of social networking.

CLA President and Yorkshire landowner William Worsley said: The CLA has long recognised the growing importance of communicating digitally and aims to help rural areas get up to speed with their urban counterparts. However, the lack of a suitable broadband connection makes it nearly impossible for rural businesses and communities to communicate.

Ofcoms first interactive broadband map published last week shows that more than 16 percent of homes in Yorkshire are unable to receive the Governments benchmark of two Megabits per second (Mb/ps). Residents and businesses here, along with many other rural communities across the UK, are constrained in the use of social media.

Mr Worsley said Ofcoms map vindicated what the CLA had said for years – there is a clear rural-urban digital divide that appears to be growing, to the detriment of sustainable rural businesses and communities.

He added: If rural areas cannot connect because there is no broadband, they are unable to benefit from new technologies such as Twitter and Facebook. The divide will widen, leading to uncompetitive rural businesses and socially-excluded rural communities. The countryside sees the enormous advantages of social media but is frustrated that it cannot play a part.

1. The Great Yorkshire Show is hosted by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society at the Harrogate Showground and runs from Tuesday, 12 to Thursday, 14 July.

2. Ofcoms interactive broadband map can be accessed here: http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/broadband/

3. The CLA Game Fair, the world’s leading country sport event, is at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire from Friday, 22 July – Sunday, 24 July 2011. For more information and to request press passes please visit: http://www.gamefair.co.uk/trade-sponsors-press/press.html

4. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has around 35,000 members.

5. As a membership organisation, the CLA supports landowners by advising them on how best to protect and maximise their asset: the land. We are dedicated to supporting landowners and their businesses. Our success is measured by how effectively we do that. We have a team of experts in London and a regional structure able to give local support.

6. We have been looking after the interests of our members, as well as promoting the positive aspects of land ownership, land management and rural business activities for the past 100 years. CLA members own or manage approximately half the rural land in England and Wales, and the resulting expertise puts us in a unique position to formulate policies and lobby effectively.

7. For more information about the CLA, visit: www.cla.org.uk or follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/CLAtweets