City Council leaders to meet Ofcom

(Date of issue: Wednesday, 5 November 2008)

A cross party delegation from Carlisle City Council will be taking their views, next week, direct to Ofcom about the planned changes to ITV Border’s news coverage.

On Thursday 13 November, Carlisle City Council’s Leader Cllr Mike Mitchelson, along with Cllr Michael Boaden, Labour Group Leader and Cllr Trevor Allison, Liberal Democrat Group Leader will meet Steve Perkins, Ofcom’s Head of Content Policy and Adam Higgitt, Public and Political Relations Manager.

They will be putting the case for a 30 minute dedicated Border TV News programme rather than ITV’s current proposal to merge Border and Tyne Tees news with a separate 15 minute sequences in the main weekday programme for viewers on the Border TV and Tyne Tees areas and separate late-evening bulletins.

Cllr Mike Mitchelson, Leader of Carlisle City Council, said:

"We are very disappointed with this proposal, even though local news will still be broadcast, it will be at a much reduced service. There will be a significant impact to our area, in real terms, this will mean job losses and Carlisle, as a regional media centre, will downgraded.

"The City Council has worked hard to make sure that the city can support the region in terms of investment, economy growth, job creation and securing funding. This is balanced with our commitment to our urban and local communities and our residents rely on a full and comprehensive news programme that provides relevant stories to them.

"Our residents have expressed strong views against this proposal and we will take this opportunity to put the case that Ofcom should not allow the reduction of news service in the Border TV area."

Carlisle City Council believes that a 30 minute dedicated news programme is still the best option for the following reasons:

• It provides a major source of up to date and relevant information about issues affecting residents, 39%, in Ofcom’s research choose Border for national and regional stories.
• It gives Carlisle’s communities a voice especially in the rural areas.
• A reduced time slot could mean that coverage could marginalise the more vulnerable members of the community.
• Carlisle is attracting significant investment, £200 million is being spent on Carlisle’s flood defences, sewage system and transport infrastructure, which is strengthening Carlisle as a regional centre for businesses and investors. Losing Border TV as a regional media centre is a significant step back at this time.
• Even within a dedicated news slot, there is less capacity to feature local stories so will lose specialist coverage of community events.

Residents have until Thursday 4 December 2008 to pass on their comments to Ofcom.