BBC Local Radio in England (13) provides a primarily speech-based service of news, information and debate to urban and rural communities. Speech output is complemented by music. The target audience is listeners aged 50 (14) and over, who are not well served elsewhere. There is a strong emphasis on interactivity and audience involvement.

Except BBC London - refer to service licence published by the BBC Trust in January 2007.

BBC Local Radio provides accurate, impartial and independent news and speech programmes that set local issues in context. Its output is relevant to its local listeners, exposing them to local and other issues that matter to them. It champions the local area and calls decision makers to account. Programmes also give listeners the opportunity to tell their own diverse stories and share their experiences. Music output is mainstream in peak time and will include specialist output in off-peak hours appropriate to the local audience.

The priorities for BBC Local Radio in England for 2007/2008 include:

Priority	Rationale
Maintain the service's overall audience reach, including offering broad-appeal programming that provides entry points to local speech radio for new listeners.	In an increasingly fragmented media environment, and with no projected investment growth, this is an increasingly challenging target.
Refresh the output to better serve local radio's target audience.	It is our ongoing ambition to maintain our current range and mix of output and, at the same time, through our own dialogue and work with the BBC Trust's Audience Council for England, to understand audiences better.

Sustaining citizenship and civil society
The weekday breakfast show across the BBC Local Radio portfolio is 100% speech. Across the rest of its schedule, BBC Local Radio encourages a shared sense of civic responsibility among listeners by providing constantly updated, accurate news and information on local, national and international matters. Output includes opportunities for debate and discussion, including regular occasions for listeners to share their own views and hold elected and unelected decision makers to account.

The Groundswell format was originated by BBC Radio Nottingham and has since been adopted by other stations. It will continue to enlist local communities to help organise public debates on a matter of neighbourhood concern, with the debate recorded for broadcast. This year we hope to follow previous successes - for example, Radio Solent helped listeners to challenge policy makers on the 'silent calls' generated by telemarketing centres. The issue was subsequently raised in Parliament.

Many individual local radio services will continue to raise awareness of social issues and encourage volunteering.

Each local service will continue to be the primary source of local information during weather crises or other emergencies.

Specifically this year we will:

• Broadcast an average of at least 60% speech content in core hours and 100% at the breakfast peak.

Representing the UK's nations, regions and communities
BBC Local Radio provides a distinctive speech-based service across England which puts local and community concerns at the centre of its output. All stations carry religious output reflecting the faiths followed in their area and will continue to provide religious output on Sundays.

In the coming year we expect to complement this with other projects like last year's look at Hindu identity in 21st-century Britain shared by several stations, and Fresh Expressions, a series about emerging churches within the Christian tradition.

BBC Local Radio brings communities together to mark key local events, and outside broadcasts from across the local area are regular features in the schedule. Where appropriate, BBC Local Radio works with network radio to deliver local material into national programmes - including sport, where local passions get a national stage.

This year we will:

• Broadcast at least 230,000 hours of local output (less than 2.5% repeats).

Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence
BBC Local Radio provides the chance for musicians from the local area to get airplay - including once more this year Radio Northampton's The Weekender and South Live from Southern Counties Radio.

Our Where I Live sites will also enable unsigned bands to upload their music for a local and global audience.

We will continue to use our specially equipped buses and open centres to reach into diverse communities and encourage individuals and groups to make their own creative content for broadcast.

With a roster of more than 300 presenters across its stations, BBC Local Radio is in a constant process of developing new presenter talent from a variety of backgrounds - recent finds include Toby Foster on Radio Sheffield, Charlie Crocker on Radio Solent, Jeremy Sallis on Radio Cambridgeshire and Janine Machin on Radio Stoke.

Promoting education and learning
BBC Local Radio will once more use its buses and open centres - often in partnership with educational agencies such as further education colleges in Leicester and Liverpool - to engage adult learners. They are a stepping-stone to acquire computer skills, and because we are seen as a trusted friend by our listeners we are a safe way into opportunities which otherwise seem forbidding.

We will also continue our media literacy and learning work with schools and colleges - for example through the ongoing All2gether Now project in Leeds. In addition, this year all our local stations will be giving local expression to pan-BBC projects such as How We Built Britain and Saving Planet Earth.

Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK
BBC Local Radio is primarily committed to serving local issues, including giving a local perspective to national stories, but its news programmes also cover key international events and issues. All BBC local radio stations are streamed on the internet and we will continue to look for new ways to connect individuals and communities on a global scale. For example, Radio Cornwall's radio and online offering Cornwall Connected brings together Cornish residents and émigrés from across the globe.

Emerging communications
BBC Local Radio will continue to promote digital technologies to its audiences, and its buses and open centres will provide opportunities for listeners to try out digital platforms. Each local radio station is also supplemented with a website that provides local news and information and supports users in getting and improving their media literacy skills.

Reach: BBC Local Radio should contribute towards the maintenance of combined BBC weekly reach for all BBC services at over 90% by aiming to maintain its own weekly reach, particularly among its stated target audience.

Quality: Audience approval of BBC Local Radio and audience perceptions of BBC Local Radio as high quality and innovative. Also, the proportion of originated programmes across all hours (including repeats).

Impact: Audience perceptions of BBC Local Radio as engaging and challenging.

Value for money: BBC Local Radio's cost per listener hour.

 

BBC Radio Berkshire BBC Radio Bristol (including BBC Somerset Sound) BBC Radio Cambridgeshire BBC Radio Cornwall BBC Coventry & Warwickshire BBC Radio Cumbria BBC Radio Derby BBC Radio Devon 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 BBC Radio Stoke BBC Radio Suffolk BBC Tees BBC Three Counties Radio BBC Radio Wiltshire and BBC Radio Swindon BBC WM BBC Radio York