My company is involved in deploying a Internet Exchange on Highmoor Farm near Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth.

There were many objections to its planning application. There were much more in support once we got on the social media campaign trail. Two can play that game.

I can understand why some might hold the views they do. In the spirit of a bit more openness I shared the date when we would be expecting to move our half-prepped digital exchange unit. I had said that this was part of my 15 year vision. High speed fibre access across Dorset, in terms of BCP Council and Dorset Council area, will enable the connectivity of the 5G trials happening soon.

I was asked about that vision, and here was my reply.

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Hi

I’d be glad to give you a quick whirlwind of my personal vision, which can be a bit stark, but unless we are, we can’t take the positive steps to make things better.

In 15 years’ time my vision is to be in a position to retire and retire safely.

By safely I mean I hope the economy and labour force has not been impacted by the effects of an insular Brexit.

The elephant in the room is that birth figures are slowing down and by Dorset LEP’s research for the Industrial Strategy, by 2040 this region will have a dependency ratio of 1. That means for every person of pensionable age, there is one of working age.

This will put a strain on social and health care services.

This is like a triangle, turning into a square turning into an upside down triangle if we don’t do something  about it.

https://myquest.gordonfong.uk/2020/06/why-is-future-prosperity-important-for-dorset/

Where is the funding going to come from?

Business rates, council tax, national insurance and general taxation comes from a labour force that is working. You will only have that if you have private sector businesses thriving.

We’ve seen from Covid that BCP would have been dead on its back had it only relied on its tourism and hospitality sectors for survival.

The service sector, the digital and creative sectors all carried on as normally, and it was through IT and infrastructure that that was able to happen. The IT infrastructure people, like my company Datacenta Hosting, were down as keyworkers, critical to national infrastructure and ensuring those that could work from home, were able to.

It was even the digital sector that helped hospitality businesses to pivot and survive.

By getting high speed data connections spanning across Dorset it acts as an enabler. We will be connecting the Talbot Digital Exchange to our data centre in Wool, at the Dorset Innovation Park. We can connect businesses and Universities together. Connectivity can enable businesses to expand further out into the rural areas whilst maintaining sites in BCP.

BCP businesses, with owners that want to make that move into West Dorset can do so, where there is good connectivity. This then provides space for new businesses to move into the space they vacate. This facilitates the inward moving of a workforce. All other counties will face the same issue. Without external immigration, as opposed to the moving around of a closed system, the high streets will die further.

That’s why the creation of new businesses across Dorset, leveraging the talent and kudos of the universities, piggy backing on the strength of the Digital sector, as well as the engineering, marine and security sector, to create the jobs needed to attract workers into Dorset is so important.

My business now makes a point of hiring people local to our businesses, so two people we took on during Covid for our Wool site came from Wool and Dorchester. For me, P&L refers to Purpose and Legacy rather than simply profit and loss.

BCP/Dorset has to be an attractive and exciting place to come to, to visit, to work and to start businesses. It has to build a forward looking vision itself. I want to stand side by side and support these new businesses, and excited by that prospect. Talbot is just one part of that vision.

So, in essence, I need this generation of businesses and more importantly the next generation to do well, as it ensures in my old age, whether I am at home, in a care home or in hospital, I will be looked after come the day I need it.

Regards,

Gordon.

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Three days and no reply, not even to acknowledge receipt, so I sent this.

Hi

I haven’t had a reply, but guess that sort of reply takes a bit of digesting.

I wanted to share a BBC website article that further highlights this issue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53409521

And the starkest of sections is when…

Prof Murray adds: "It will create enormous social change. It makes me worried because I have an eight-year-old daughter and I wonder what the world will be like."

Who pays tax in a massively aged world? Who pays for healthcare for the elderly? Who looks after the elderly? Will people still be able to retire from work?

"We need a soft landing," argues Prof Murray.

Do we want to build a future, or preserve a future? I guess the answer flexes on that spectrum.

Regards,

Gordon