A demand for £1,000 by Swindon Borough Council has left community radio station Swindon 105.5 fearing for its future.

The studios in Liden are owned by Swindon Borough Council and it also has a transmitter on the council’s David Murray John tower in the centre oftown.

The council has asked the station for £1,000 as a contribution to  the legal fees incurred in the arrangements for both those leases.

But station boss Shirley Ludford says that represents a lot of money for the station which has an annual budget of just £50,000.

Ms Ludford said: “It’s a lot of money for us to find. We have to fundraise for everything we do, and we are on air 24 hours a day, every day.

“We are very concerned about this winter. Our studio premises aren’t the best and we work with a lot of young people with disabilities. We need to improve the equipment they use, which is a cost and we also have to make sure our studios are properly warm enough to be suitable, so it is a concern.”

Ms Ludford said she has written to the council leader David Renard suggesting it might waive the fees: “I said I thought that would be a good gesture of support for the station, which is important to Swindon, as we head in to a difficult period.

“Unfortunately Coun Renard has written back to me saying that won’t be possible.”

Coun  Renard said: “I fully appreciate this is a particularly challenging time for the sector, but the council is facing enormous financial pressures and we cannot write off all fees and justify the extra burden on the taxpayer.”

 

“These are actual costs incurred by the council and reflect the amount of officer time spent from a legal and property perspective . Normally we charge costs for each transaction we are involved with, but on this occasion, where both a lease renewal and wayleave grant are being dealt with, we have tried to reduce this for the radio station by only charging for one set of transaction costs .”

Ms Ludford says anyone who would like to support the station with fundraising could do so by supporting Deborah Bryan, who is to do a 360 km bike ride across India soon.

Ms Bryan suffered a near-fatal road accident as a pedestrian some years ago and is determined to raise money for the radio station in its work with disabled young people.

Her funding page is available at

https://www.gofundme.com/f/360-km-bike-ride-across-india-huge-challenge?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer