BBC Local Radio

I congratulate Merseyside on being top of the league. In Scunthorpe, the local speedway group and the local rugby union club are also covered and celebrated. Indeed, as a college principal, I often saw the college netball team and the college hockey team covered as well. Also in my role as college principal, I saw how important it was to have local radio to communicate to people, during the snows of the early part of 2010, which buses were and were not running. Without that information source, we could not have kept everyone informed. Local radio is part of the infrastructure of community, which keeps the community involved; it can celebrate what goes on in the community and it can motivate communities. People in all parts of my constituency—whether it is Hibaldstow, Redbourne, Cadney, Howsham, Kirton, Bottesford or Scunthorpe—can see events celebrated on local radio that they rarely see celebrated on local, or indeed national, television. That is important because it reflects the community's passions and interests back to it.