[cma-l] Community Radio Fund petition - final score

[sbuckley at gn.apc.org]

Dear all

Thank you everyone who signed the petition on the community radio fund,
and especially those who helped to mobilise the support of many others.

The petition closed yesterday with a final tally of 3417 names. It reached
number 38 of 4403 open petitions on the 10 Downing St e-petitions site,
well into the top 1 per cent. Since the No 10 petitions site started in
2007 there have been 29,881 petitions. Ours comes in at No 362 on the all
time list.

It's a great result, and shows substantial public support for our demands.
With over 500 names added in the last week alone, there is also no doubt
we could have achieved a greater number over a longer period. But the
intention was to make a short term campaign and provide an opportunity for
others to join the call launched by community radios on 20 July 2009.

It remains to see if we achieve further movement from the government in
response. In the next few days we hope to confirm a meeting with the
Minister to set out in more detail the case for putting community radio on
a more sustainable footing by increasing the Community Radio Fund.

But a petition is only one of the tools in the box. Lets come up with
other ideas and initiatives to keep the issue on the agenda until we get a
fair settlement and to reinforce the CMA's ongoing lobbying for the
sector.

This is not going to go away until HMG puts the money where its mouth is!

Best wishes to all

Steve