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Ofcom's Community Radio Fund Panel met on Tuesday 14 February to consider grant applications.

• £485,222.50 was available for the financial year 2005/6.
• 17 eligible applications were received (eligibility required applicants to hold a community radio licence before the end of March 2006).
• Funding applications totalled £771,198.
• All 17 applicants received grants which totalled £444,026. In some cases grants for more than one purpose were approved.
• The grants are listed below (station name; amount; purpose).

The Panel aimed to strike a balance between judicious allocation and the risk of losing unallocated funds. The primary aim was to help stations meet core costs and increase their capacity for self-sufficiency. Awards were made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account justification given and the overall situation of the applicant.

Only in exceptional circumstances will the panel make a subsequent grant for an identical purpose. Applicants should be aware that in the next round there will be much fiercer competition for approximately the same amount of funding. There were 20 eligible applicants in this first round but there are likely to be more than 80 in the next. Nonetheless the Panel wishes to continue to make grants for core activities, particularly to newly licensed stations, in line with guidance from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It will, however, take special note of innovative proposals for long-term sustainability.

The Panel particularly welcomes joint applications from stations proposing to share the costs of staff and services as it considers that stations are not in competition.

Applications for funding in 2006/07

• the next applications will be invited on Friday 21 April 2006
• the closing-date for applications will be four weeks later, i.e. Thursday 18 May
• the Panel will meet to make decisions on these applications on 29 June 2006.

A further round of applications will be invited in October 2006, with a closing date in November, and decisions in January 2007 (dates to be confirmed). Applicants are eligible to receive funding from only one Community Radio Fund grant round in each financial year.

Summary of grants awarded for 2005/06

Station	Location	Purpose	Amount
103 The Eye	Vale of Belvoir	Administration officer Fundraising coordinator	£10,582 £4,368
All FM	Manchester	Administrator IT technician	£19,417 £4,392
Awaz FM	Glasgow	Project manager *Regional community radio project	£30,000 £6,300
BCB	Bradford	Station director *Regional community radio project	£16,776 £6,300
Desi Radio	Southall, London	Station manager Accountancy fees	£19,250 £6,000
Down FM	Downpatrick, Northern Ireland	Community outreach project Station manager	£6,500 £3,500
Express FM	Portsmouth	Sustainable income generation project Volunteer support and training	£28,085 £6,780
GTFM	Pontypridd	Station manager Finance assistant	£20,300 £15,400
Forest of Dean	Gloucestershire	Station manager *Regional community radio project	£30,420 £6,300
New Style Radio	Birmingham	Station manager	£25,000
Radio Faza	Nottingham	Fundraiser Finance manager	£19,625 £3,900
Resonance FM	London	Assistant manager Two station managers Programme director	£20,000 £8,000 £6,000
Skyline Community Radio	Hedge End, Hampshire	Station manager	£10,000
Sound Radio	Hackney, London	Station manager *Regional community radio project	£30,000 £7,539
Takeover Radio	Leicester	Trust manager	£24,926
Unity Radio	Southampton	Station manager	£20,000
Wythenshawe FM	Manchester	Station Manager Administrator *Regional community radio project	£11,713 £4,903 £11,750

*The Panel awarded funding to five stations for a joint project to support community radio stations at a regional level. This pilot project will operate in 5 areas - Yorkshire, London, west of England, the north-west and Scotland - and will be run by the regional partners. It will encourage regional collaboration and facilitate networking, training and information sharing. Participation will be open to all stations in the region concerned. The regional working will then feed into a national working group for community radio broadcasters. This collaborative project will also aim to raise the profile of community radio amongst the general public.

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