Note Of The Fourth Meeting Of The Ofcom Community Radio Fund Panel Held at Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London on Thursday 29th June 2006.

Chairman’s Introduction

1. The Chairman welcomed Members to the fourth meeting of the Ofcom Community Radio Fund Panel. All members were present throughout. Other Ofcom colleagues were also present throughout.

Minutes of the previous Meeting

2. The minutes of the Community Radio Fund Panel Meeting held on 23 rd March 2006 were agreed as an accurate record.

Matters Arising

3. There were no matters arising that were not being dealt with under items on the Agenda.

Community radio fund grant award process.

4. The Panel noted that forty five applications had been received for grants totalling £1,760,340.

5. The Panel noted that the fund available was £450,000 rather than £500,000.

6. The Panel gave full and careful consideration to each application and awarded grants which amounted to a total of £229,063 to fifteen applicants. A total of eighteen applications were rejected and the remaining twelve applications (which related to stations with launch dates in early 2007) were deferred for decision at the next meeting.

7. The Panel agreed that a statement summarising the Panel’s decisions to award the grants would be published in due course.

Community radio emergency grant award process/policy

8. After a full and careful discussion, the Panel agreed that in light of the limited funding available and other factors, the Panel would not consider emergency applications at this time. However, should circumstances change (for example if the size of the Fund grows) the Panel may wish to review its decision.

Any other business

9. The Panel gave a vote of thanks to Kevin Carey and noted his appointment as Chairman of the Panel ceased with effect 30 June 2006 . Notwithstanding the Panel’s Terms of Reference (which state that the Chairman must be a member of the Content Board), the Panel requested that Ofcom give consideration to the Chairman’s appointment being extended until a new Chairman could be appointed. Kevin Carey confirmed his willingness to continue as Chair of the Panel until a successor was announced.

Date of next meeting

10. The date of the next meeting would be scheduled for sometime in the Autumn of 2006.

July 2006