'BBC Radio Kent is a lifeline for many Medway residents' - say local Lib Dems, responding to cuts

*image by alan wells

BBC Radio Kent is a vital service for people in Medway and across Kent. It helps residents stay connected to our local community, providing local news, culture, sport and weather updates, and gives residents an opportunity to have their say and participate in local debates through phone-ins. BBC Local Radio does this in a unique way that commercial radio cannot quite match.

We want to express our dismay at these proposed cuts to BBC local radio and to demand that the Government find a solution to cover the BBC's predicted £295 million funding shortfall by 2027. The changes will cut local programming after 2pm - with most shows after this point being broader regional or national broadcasts. The announcement has met fierce criticism from across the political spectrum.

Alan Wells, spokesperson for Medway Liberal Democrats said, "BBC Radio Kent connects people and communities in our area and keeps them informed of local issues and news in real time. To many Medway and Kent residents it is a lifeline, a primary source of company and the only means residents have of finding out vital information in our area. BBC local radio also does a great job of holding local decision makers to account.

I know that in the last couple of years, during the Coronavirus pandemic, the station was able to help spread important information, and was often the only source of company for those residents cut off from the rest of society. During the current cost-of-living crisis local radio will play a similarly crucial role in spreading information about support services, warm banks and a number of other important lifelines for residents."

We recognise the BBC is being forced into cuts by successive Government freezes to the license fee and the withdrawal of funding for free licenses for over 75's. We are calling on the Government to fund the BBC properly so it can continue to deliver a full schedule of local radio programming across the UK - in addition to it's planned expansion of digital radio services.

ENDS