[cma-l] Second Reading Localism Bill: House of Lords debates, 7 June 2011, 3:50 pm

[Bill Best]

Hi Nick

Many thanks for your email which I've been sitting on for a week...

This was an excerpt from the Second Reading of the Localism Bill in
the House of Lords. The Bill has to go through a number of stages -
first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage, third
reading in both the House of Commons and House of Lords - before it
becomes an Act of law.

Shortlink: http://bit.ly/jNZiXa

The Localism Bill has four main measures:

- new freedoms and flexibilities for local government
- new rights and powers for communities and individuals
- reform to make the planning system more democratic and more effective
- reform to ensure that decisions about housing are taken locally

The Bishop of Norwich noted that certain features of the Localism
Bill - in particular neighbourhood consultation and local elections -
need to be supported by a healthy communications 'ecology' that
formerly would have consisted of local newspapers and local radio.

I believe that the Bishop of Norwich is saying that with the decline
in local news media outlets in recent years, including BBC local
radio, only the community radio sector is able to meet the demands of
supporting the Localism Bill once enacted as long as our sector is
sufficiently funded.

Hear, hear!

Best regards

Bill
--
Community Media Association
http://www.commedia.org.uk/
http://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation

Canstream Internet Radio & Video
http://www.canstream.co.uk/

On 10 June 2011 15:26, Office - ccr-fm <office at ccr-fm.co.uk> wrote:
> I don't actually have time to read through the long rhetoric (it's even
> longer than one of my e-mails)  LOL        what Bill ?   and what is the
> crux of the matter
> Does anyone know ?
>
> Regards
>
> Nick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of CMA-L
> Sent: 10 June 2011 13:31
> To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
> Subject: [cma-l] Second Reading Localism Bill: House of Lords debates, 7
> June 2011, 3:50 pm
>
> Graham James, The Bishop of Norwich:
>
> The positive features of this Bill - neighbourhood plans, forums and
> development orders, as well as any potential for further directly
> elected mayors and local referenda - all require lively agencies of
> local democracy. These have traditionally included local newspapers
> and, in the past generation, local radio. The dramatic decline in
> advertising revenue in local newspapers has made that sector very
> fragile. It has meant that the number of young journalists cutting
> their teeth in the local and regional press has been dramatically
> reduced. Some cuts in BBC local radio now seem inevitable with the
> freezing of the licence fee. Local and regional commercial radio now
> carries very little news at all. Only community radio, staffed largely
> by volunteers, beats the trend and could serve the purposes of this
> Bill well if sufficiently funded.
>
> Hansard Source:
> http://bit.ly/lYa1AP
>
> \\
>
> Community Media Association
> --
> http://www.commedia.org.uk/
> http://twitter.com/community_media
> https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
> Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/