By Philip Sedgwick

AN award-winning tourist attraction says the lack of superfast broadband is affecting its ability to conduct business satisfactorily.

With the first phase of bringing superfast broadband to North Yorkshire – putting over 150,000 premises online – the contract was extended and is to deliver higher broadband speeds to a further 15,000 premises by June 2017.

In common with many of the premises still not covered as they are slightly off the beaten track, the Forbidden Corner in Coverdale says it is being affected by a slow internet speed.

Manager John Reeves said: "We get 108,000 visitors every year and 75 per cent of our bookings are now online. We could increase this as younger people prefer to book on line.

A slow broadband speed restricts our ability to deliver a full service to our customers. We also do not qualify for the subsidised scheme."

Frustrated at being unable to progress their lack of high-speed internet, Mr Reeves enlisted the help of Richmond MP Rishi Sunak who is a tireless campaigner on the subject. He contacted Superfast North Yorkshire but was unable to receive an assurance that Forbidden Corner would be included in the next phase due to be started in spring 2017.

Ian Marr, community broadband project manager for Superfast North Yorkshire, said that due to the distance the Forbidden Corner is from the exchange meant it could not be included in the present phase as it had not been budgeted for, as the whole connection would have to be replaced.

"At this stage we are unable to say if Forbidden Corner will be enabled in Phase 3, however it is one of those to be considered," he said.

Coverdale is also home to several other businesses, mostly racing trainers. Nearby Bethell’s Racing is unable to watch races by live streaming. Sally Bethell said: "I can confirm that our broadband is really slow and hinders our business. By the time the race has been buffered it’s either over or we are cut off. We have no phone signal either, which in turn costs us more money using BT land lines."

Phase 3 is due to be awarded in the New Year with £20.5m to be spent – North Yorkshire County Council will fund £12.5m to widen superfast to 96 per cent of the county.

Mr Reeves concluded: "We are grateful to Mr Sunak for going to the lengths he did; he got a lot further than we managed to. However it doesn't seem fair that we are presently excluded from the scheme."