COMPUTER users interested in broadband are being urged to express their interest with phone company BT.

Several people in villages including Ushaw Moor, Esh, Esh Winning, Cornsay and Bearpark, which is served by the New Brancepeth exchange, say they want broadband.

But BT Wholesale will not install the system, which speeds up computer Internet links, until at least 400 people take up the facility.

Mike Ackroyd, clerk to Esh Parish Council, urged everyone interested to pre-register with the company.

So far, about 200 people have done so.

* The BT site is at www.bt.com/broadband.