I completely share my hon. Friend’s sentiments. In Bury St Edmunds, rather like in Corby and east Northamptonshire, an awful lot of fantastic community work goes on that would not necessarily get the hearing that it does were it not for local radio.
I was interested in what my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Seema Kennedy) said about loneliness. It is clear that local radio has a big role to play, particularly in isolated and rural communities where people are not necessarily able to get to urban centres, or in cases where people are not able to get out for various reasons. The radio service keeps people connected to the local community, allowing them to ring in as part feedback programmes, giving them the confidence that things are going on around them and sometimes providing an avenue of support. Those things are welcome. I commend my hon. Friend for her work on the issue of loneliness—[Interruption.] It is a bit lonely over on the Opposition Benches, but I commend the two Opposition Members on the Front Bench for taking their seats in this debate.
I do not underestimate the value of community radio in my constituency. I spend a lot of time knocking on doors. The part of this job that I enjoy the most is getting out there, knocking on doors, finding out what issues matter to local people as part of my listening campaign and then campaigning on those issues. One thing that strikes me on a regular basis, aside from the fact that people speak warmly about community radio, is the amount of stickers in people’s windows for Connect FM and Corby Radio, which shows that people are switched on to their community radio services and hugely support them. The fact that they go to the length of putting a sticker in their window is evidence of the value that people place on those services.
The Bill presents a real way forward to help to secure the future of community radio services. There is no compulsion about it, as my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay has made clear; it provides just another opportunity for community radio stations to secure their future in the way that works best for them. I commend that and I very much hope that the Bill will progress today.
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