DEVON County Council's quest to bring the county faster broadband has been questioned by both the Campaign for Protection of Rural England (CPRE) and the Dartmoor Preservation Association.

DCC has been asking residents and businesses in the region to support the bid by completing an online survey to show the region's need for superfast broadband.

Devon county councillor Will Mumford, cabinet member for economic regeneration and strategic planning, stressed the need for superfast broadband in the region.

He said: 'Rural businesses need a significant improvement to their broadband service to remain competitive and support growth.

'Superfast broadband will encourage local entrepreneurs to start businesses and create jobs, while existing businesses will be able to access new markets, promoting enterprise and boosting the county's economy.

'It will also make a real difference to communities through enabling home working, reducing commuting and improving access to information and public services.'

The CPRE and Dartmoor Preservation Association welcome any move to help rural businesses, but are concerned over the effect a successful bid could have on the visual landscape of local countryside.

Torridge branch chairman of the CPRE and local resident Penny Mills said: 'Whilst clearly this is good news, and of course the CPRE support rural communities, we are concerned if this means a proliferation of more telecom masts with their unsightly control boxes etc.

'We would like to see companies share masts and improve their design.'

Dartmoor Preservation Association's chief executive James Paxman said: 'The Government commitmentto provide extra funds for the development of the rural broadband network is of course very welcome.

'It will underpin the rural businesses which would otherwise find it difficult to compete on equal terms with their more urbanised counterparts.

'But rural development must always be balanced with the need to protect and conserve the very things that make the countryside so precious and a proliferation of communications masts will be unwelcome.'

Andrew Ferguson, spokesperson for thinkbroadband.com, said: 'Whether repeater towers or new masts would be needed largely depends on what technology is used to roll out the superfast broadband.

'It is likely that a number of methods may be used, depending on the population density of an area.

'Generally superfast broadband is being rolled out by the addition of extra green street cabinets close to existing BT cabinets, but to reach the 2015 targets a variety of techniques will be needed, thus some areas may get wireless systems.

'These may well be able to co-exist on existing cell phone towers.'

The deadline for applications for the Government's Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) agency was April 18.