[cma-l] Way Forward

[Trevor Lockwood]

Jaquie 

Government's public responses will always be conditioned and imprecise. 

No doubt many stations are dealing with similar situations to ours as their
own councils try to adjust to the Big Society. 

The best strategy may be to take the initiative - as there are any number
of headless chickens who need comforting. A structured business plan that
ensures that councils change from providers to enablers of services is
imperative. It's too much to hope for that we can dismiss their influence
altogether (OK I can dream). 

Several important questions must be tackled, not least who will hold the
purse strings in this Society? That's likely to be the Councils but who
will make decisions, who will allocate the funds from the pot? At what
point does the Big Society step in and demand that Councils CEOs are not
paid £218,000 pa (like mine), or is that decision not to be part of the
remit? Nobody I know supports her being paid so much, so who will change
it? 

Present beliefs suggest
that many senior Council managers expect they, as
individuals, will remain in a job (possibly redefined), and that 30% cuts
will affect only minions. 

Community media has a vital role to play - and we must begin planning now. 

We need: A national strategy that insists on the importance of our sector
if the government are really serious about the Big Society. Effectively
they (the government) have no other communication system that can do the
job. It is only community media and public service broadcasting that can
inspire and mobilise a disenchanted populace, persuade everyone they do
mean what they say, then support local initiatives. The private sector are
incapable of meeting the challenges, the Councils too worried about their
individual skins. 

To motivate folk we need encouragement, proper recognition, and a modicum
of funding - and a place amongst the decision makers that will ensure our
voice (and thus of the mass of the population) is properly heard. 

Our MOU with the BBC
now becomes a vital weapon - together we can bring
about change. Together we can survive! 

Locally each county's stations must work together, and link with
infrastructure organisations serving the voluntary and community sector.
The sooner the 'voluntary' aspect is diminished the better - we serve the
community, because we are of the community. That many of us choose to
volunteer may look attractive but we all know that serious projects cannot
rely solely upon voluntary effort, and that volunteers cost money. 

Talking to my local Council it is clear the entrenched attitudes are
already rising to the surface. IT experts recommending project management
software that can be adopted. Innovation and business planners creating
social enterprise spin-offs from within their existing structures - and
bureaucracy content to believe that it will always be an essential
ingredient. 

Our approach needs to be radical - and (to some extent) ignore conventional
systems. I've long argued that we
should carry statutory and informative
advertising (and that's really needed now - by both sides, not least to pay
our bills). We must demonstrate that by providing a service that is really
needed we present a role model for all those systems which presently rely
upon service agreements and beneficient project funding (often for spurious
reasons). We can generate our income, if our services are properly
recognised. 

Nationally we must be seen to be working with government - and telling the
world what we are doing - we are communicators, but are too often
marginalised because we are regarded as a minority. Some salient statistics
may make people take notice, and a stream of editorials, discussion
programmes, and statements coming from us all will make a difference. We
have the power to make change. The government wants change. Let's embrace
that idealism before it evaporates or is swallowed by commercial interests.


As usual I could go on - but we must begin to take action. This is
not a
spectator sport - we are major players in a movement that could
fundamentally change society - and those changes sit perfectly with the
reasons why we got involved in community media. Let's have a go. 

Trevor  
TREVOR LOCKWOOD
Chairman
Felixstowe Radio [1] 
3 Great Eastern Square
Felixstowe IP11 7DY
 

Links:
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[1] http://www.felixstoweradio.co.uk
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