Prince Charles describes countryside as broadband desert

The Prince of Wales has recently spoken out about the problems facing the countryside and has said that farmers and businesses in rural areas are stuck in a broadband desert.

The Prince of Wales has recently spoken out about the variety of problems that are facing farmers and businesses in rural areas across the UK, and has launched a new fund, which was his own idea, to try and combat some of these problems. Sixty one year old Prince Charles is set to launch the Prince’s Countryside Fund, which will be officially launched on 22nd June.

One of the problems that the Prince highlighted for farmers and businesses in the countryside was the lack of broadband access, and he said that farmers and businesses were facing a ‘broadband desert’ which put them at a real disadvantage when it came to being able to access services via the Internet.

Speaking about his fund the Prince stated: “I have felt for a long time there is a particular need to ensure that the smaller family farmer, in particular, was able to survive in the future.” He added: “It is terribly important to have a fund which is available to draw on in the event of these emergencies and also (in) the countryside generally and (in) rural communities there is a great deal more hardship than people realise. It looks wonderful but it isn’t always like that.”

Around a dozen leading figures from the retail and production industry are set to serve on the board of trustees for the new fund, and according to reports some companies have already made donations to the fund which will give it s starting balance of around one million pounds.

Source – Telegraph