THE boss of an internet-based company says he cannot survive long without the vital broadband link – and it is also preventing just the sort of industry the Forest needs from coming here.

Warning that every day without broadband is "another nail in the coffin of Forest business", Robin Smurthwaite of Whitecroft firm Synapse says he will either have to quit the area or pay well over the odds for an expensive satellite link.

It is time to take the whole thing seriously and stop imagining the problem will sort itself out, he says.

"I am aware that I have been sneered at in the past for saying that it's more important than roads," said Robin.

"But what I actually said is that it's more important than widening roads or building new ones. The theory that bigger or new roads relieve traffic problems has been pretty comprehensively rubbished – the evident truth is that traffic expands to fill the space available.

"The availability of ADSL broadband in the area would allow the kind of businesses to develop in the Forest that would provide well paid, hi-tech jobs, with minimal impact on the environment around us.

"Even better, people could work from home in many disciplines, giving communities a new lease of life, rather than watching all the inhabitants leap in their cars and scurry off to Bristol, Gloucester or Cardiff every day. Surely that is what we all want?"

But he fears none of this will happen – unless there is a dramatic change in thinking, "the hi-tech revolution that is sweeping the rest of the country simply will not happen here".

"ADSL is not available anywhere in the Forest, and there is certainly no timetable at all for this to happen," he said – BT would not move without 200 to 400 expressions of interest per exchange, and smaller providers needed at least 40, "unlikely outside towns".

Vantage Point at Mitcheldean had bought into expensive line-of-sight technology, but the expense of alternative systems was not affordable by everyone.

"To get a service our competitors in other parts of the country buy for about £50 a month, will cost us £400-£600 a month here and an installation fee of between £1,000 and £4,000 compared to £50-£80 for ADSL."

Faced with this stark choice he says he will probably pay up and stay because of the strong ties he has here – but many will not be able to take that choice. Political pressure would make a huge difference but there were few signs of activity.

•BT's website – www. bt.com/btbroadband – says 400 registrations are needed to connect Lydney alone to broadband, a level not yet reached. At the time of going to press it was not possible to call up local levels of registration. However Derek Biddle, helping to spearhead 'Broadband 4 Lydney' , said: "I don't believe 400 is impossible." Leaflets and campaigning would intensify, he promised, and anyone who wanted to register support should visit the www. broadband4lydney.co.uk website. Similar drives were starting up in other parts of the Forest, he said.