The remit of BBC Local Radio is to provide a primarily speech-based service of news, information and debate to urban and rural communities. Speech output should be complemented by music. The target audience should be listeners aged 50 and over who are not well served elsewhere. There should be a strong emphasis on interactivity and audience involvement.

BBC Local Radio in England will continue to contribute towards the delivery of the BBC's public purposes in the range of ways set out in its service licence. Key developments in the way in which the service will contribute to each purpose are outlined below. These are designed to address the priorities identified by the BBC Trust, future-proof the delivery of the purposes, and address perceived gaps in delivery in line with strategies in the BBC's purpose plans.

1 Sustaining citizenship and civil society

• English Regions will develop Digital Democracy plans alongside the rest of the BBC. One key element will be offering a much more detailed and interactive online service during elections which sits closely alongside our Local Radio offering. This forms part of wider plans aimed at making our political content more lively, innovative and accessible, including Groundswell public meetings on key local issues.
• Two multimedia local government journalists are to be temporarily recruited in the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region for the run-up to the local elections. This will pilot a new, more local and multimedia form of political reporting.

2 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities

• Priority: The BBC Local multimedia broadband proposition forms a critical part of the English Regions strategy to attract under-served audiences. BBC Nations & Regions is expected to seek BBC Trust approval for the service. Ways are being sought to best capture Local Radio content for use in the context of a multimedia local broadband offering. English Regions is already building on its Click of the Day 'best of' audio service.
• Priority: A restatement of Local Radio values and governing principles will be published. This will give everyone working in Local Radio a clearer focus on their audience. The work encapsulates English Regions' attempts to improve, across all media, its information offering, increasing the frequency and depth of travel and weather news and enhancing news and sport with improved newsgathering via new technology.
• English Regions is entering into a deeper partnership with BBC Learning with community engagement at its heart. A variety of programming and outreach projects will be supported through this across Local Radio in England.

3 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence

• Local Radio will play a key role in a multi-platform partnership planned for April 2008 in partnership with the Arts Council. Made in England is a celebration of England's creativity for St George's Day and beyond. Local Radio will explore the relationship between England and its people as expressed through creative and artistic forms, and will offer interaction, inspiration and legacy material.

4 Promoting education and learning

• English Regions is building on the work it did in 2007 on BBC News School Report. There are English Regions mentors in more than 50 schools and a wide range of on-air and outreach activity is planned. The project will allow Local Radio to access new voices from under-served audiences and build media literacy.

5 Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK

• Local Radio stations are starting to generate activity related to the 2012 Olympics. Stations with strong Chinese connections are already involved in special output for this year. Others are embedding themselves in local cultural and other 2012 consortia in preparation for playing a key role in 2012 events and coverage.

6 Delivering the benefit of emerging communications technologies

• Aggregating the best of Local Radio's African and Caribbean content through a new UK Black podcast has given us the opportunity to provide a new resource for black communities which has already proved popular. There are plans to apply the same approach to our Asian and faith programming and to learn from current podcasting successes as we build our portfolio in this area.
• We will support digital switchover and other communications technology developments with a new phase of on-air 'digital doctors' – experts who can deal with listeners' questions and offer advice and information across the Local Radio network.

Unless otherwise stated, all commitments are minimum hours or percentages and include originations, repeats and acquisitions.
All conditions are annual unless otherwise stated.

Sustaining citizenship and civil society

• 60% speech content on BBC Local Radio in core hours (06.00–18.00)
• 100% speech content on BBC Local Radio at breakfast peak

Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities

• 85 hours each week of original, locally made programming

As at 1 April 2008, there are 38 BBC Local Radio services in England, plus an additional five opt-out services.

BBC Radio Berkshire
BBC Radio Bristol (inc BBC Somerset)
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (inc separate output for Peterborough and the Fens)
BBC Radio Cornwall
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
BBC Radio Cumbria
BBC Radio Derby
BBC Radio Devon (inc separate output for Plymouth)
BBC Essex
BBC Radio Gloucestershire
BBC Radio Guernsey
BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester
BBC Radio Humberside
BBC Radio Jersey
BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Lancashire
BBC Radio Leeds
BBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio Lincolnshire
BBC London
BBC Radio Manchester
BBC Radio Merseyside
BBC Radio Newcastle
BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Northampton
BBC Radio Nottingham
BBC Radio Oxford
BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Shropshire
BBC Radio Solent
BBC Southern Counties Radio (inc separate output for Sussex and Surrey)
BBC Radio Stoke
BBC Radio Suffolk
BBC Tees
BBC Three Counties Radio (inc separate output for Milton Keynes)
BBC Radio Wiltshire and BBC Radio Swindon
BBC WM
BBC Radio York