VILLAGERS near Darlington have started a campaign for British Telecom to install broadband Internet access in their area.

BT has not installed its high-speed Internet access in the villages of Hurworth, Neasham, Croft or Dalton, near Darlington.

Now David Russell and Andrew Lilly, from Croft, are bombarding the villages' shops, schools and pubs with almost 2,000 leaflets and posters to encourage more people to express an interest in having broadband access.

BT will not update the Croft telephone exchange to broadband until it has expressions of interest from 450 homes - more than a quarter of all households in the area.

The trigger level for the company to install broadband is as little as 100 homes in some areas, but because it will cost more to update the small exchange in Croft more interest is needed to make the work viable.

Mr Russell said: "My efforts increased the expressions of interest from about 50 up to about 110.

"We decided that the best way forward would be to telephone people living in the area covered by Croft exchange. We have rung a considerable amount of local residents and other than two people, everyone has lent their support to the campaign."

Campaigners now have 257 expressions of interest, but are nearly 200 people short of their target.

Mr Russell said: "It is a pity that BT has spent so many millions on advertising broadband when perhaps some of the money could have been better spent enabling small exchanges like Croft, or at least lowering such high trigger levels - some exchanges require only 100 people."

Campaigners want their children to have access to the higher-speed Internet services for their schoolwork and to keep up-to-date with evolving technology.

Mr Lilly, who has three children under six, said: "It is not just for individuals using their computers. It is for the whole community. The Internet has such a wide range of things involved with it that everyone can benefit from it."

A BT spokeswoman said: "The campaign is going well in Croft and we hope they will soon have enough people so we can enable the exchange.

"Obviously it is not feasible for us as a business to install broadband where we cannot make the money back on it."