STUDENTS and anyone else with a laptop computer have been given free access to the internet in Blackburn town centre.

And Noreen Anjad, 17, who is studying for A-levels, today spoke for scores of web users when she said: "When it's nice weather it's hard not to get distracted -- but now you can do all your work outside."

Anyone within 100 metres of St Paul's Street can log on for research or to check e-mails as part of a pioneering project involving wireless technology.

The scheme, funded by Lancashire Learning and Skills Council, is run through the new technology centre at Blackburn College. Student Philip Taylor, 19, from Barrow, said: "It's a great idea. You can sit out here in the gardens and access the internet for free."

But as fellow student Naomi Clarke, 17, pointed out, you have to have your own computer and "not everyone can afford their own technology."

The college is thought to be the first FE College in the country to offer the free facility.

It has only been available in patches in a handful of city centres.

Wireless Internet connections first came on the UK scene earlier this year when coffee shops and hotels began offering it to people on the move. But in the majority of cases, the user still needs a wireless subscription with an Internet Service Provider like T-Mobile or British Telecom.

Free wireless Internet access is only widely available in America.

Project consultant Peter Couch started work on the idea in June with £5,000 funding from the CoVE strand of Lancashire Learning and Skills Council. He said: "This is similar to the early days of mobile phones -- it is the start of something which will sweep across the country."