A WELLESBOURNE photographer has warned villagers that businesses will leave the area unless they get faster internet access.

And Andrew Sheppard, who runs Avon Studios in Kineton Road, has said he will have no alternative but to follow suit if they fail to get the support for broadband internet.

Mr Sheppard, who was born and bred in the area, has started a campaign to get villagers registered for broadband, but so far only 202 people have signed and BT has told him they need 400 as the 'trigger' level.

He has now called on village to play its part or watch the area suffer as businesses move elsewhere.

"Wellesbourne will be yet another example of English villages in decline," he said.

"As technology becomes more sophisticated, businesses are having to stay ahead to remain competitive and offer the services expected by their clients. If lack of amenities makes this impossible the only alternative will be to move."

He has recently invested £85,000 in installing a state of the art digital laboratory, which is more up to date than the equipment used in High Street stores and enables customers to email photos to the studios for printing.

"But because I can't get broadband, people can only send a few photos at a time - although they can send them on a CD," he said.

"I also often have to send high resolution photos via the internet to clients. For example, last week I sent 50 photos to a client in the States. It took me all day. With broadband it would have taken a fraction of the time. This was time which could have been spent working on other areas of my business."

BT spokesman Emma Tennant said trigger levels had to be met to warrant broadband's installation.

"It costs between £250,000 to £500,000 to update each exchange and then once that level is reached, about two or three months later it will be installed," she said.

Anyone wanting to register their interest in broadband can find out more by logging on to www.bt.com/broadband.