GOVERNMENT minister Ed Vaizey is to have talks with wireless and internet providers as part of moves to help remote areas connect to crucial broadband services.

Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake had called on the Minister to help areas like the North York Moors where broadband reception can be patchy, slow or even non-existent. The latest phase to provide superfast broadband to 95 per cent of North Yorkshire has just been launched by North Yorkshire County Council and its partners, including BT with a £21m investment.

But up to five per cent of households and businesses will still be unreachable for years to come . Mr Hollinrake said Mr Vaizey, the Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, has now agreed to meet Moorsweb, which has been helping to provide wireless connection across the Moors and Superfast North Yorkshire which is bringing fibre technology, to look at potential solutions.

“The key to this is competition - £1.7bn is being put in by the Government to extend broadband, but we need innovative solutions,” said Mr Hollinrake.

“It is absolutely crucial, you can’t run a business without it. People like Moorsweb are coming up with more innovative wireless solutions, but then they have the difficulty of BT coming in and selling broadband to their customers.

“We need to ensure these solutions are viable and sustainable markets can be developed.

“We want to attract great businesses such as architects and graphic designers, but they cannot operate in rural areas with slow broadband, which means that they will relocate out of our areas.

“ It is not a level playing field, and that is contributing to a depopulation of young people and businesses, which hampers job creation and investment. A report by the National Farmers Union recently stated that 40 per cent of farmers are without access to broadband and 90 per cent have no reliable service.”

He said the Minister had also agreed during a debate on rural broadband to look at extending voucher schemes which have been operating in urban areas.

During the debate Mr Vaizey said:”We are looking at a whole range of solutions.

"Funnily enough, some of the last five per cent is in cities and we are looking for a bespoke solution for that. There might be a voucher solution or a fund that companies can bill into. We hope to announce our proposals towards the end of the year, to coincide with the spending review. However, it is our intention to get to 100 per cent, in effect, by the end of this Parliament.”