Council to review radio station's rent subsidy

A community radio station has been receiving rent and rate relief from the council for the past nine years, it has been revealed.

Peterborough City Council's current leader Dennis Jones said the authority would be reviewing all organisations and companies benefitting from such relief to ensure fairness and compliance.

Peterborough Community Radio (PCRFM) was set up in 2016 at the Herlington Centre in Orton Malborne, by former Conservative council leader, Wayne Fitzgerald.

Mr Fitzgerald, who led the council between 2021 and 2023, said the arrangement was reviewed annually by the council, adding the station provided community value.

Documents provided by PCRFM showed its yearly business rates bill totalled £9,231.50 before the 80% mandatory and 20% discretionary relief.

"We are a not-for-profit community group and there are many of them in the city that receive free rent for example," said Mr Fitzgerald, who is also a director of the radio station.

"It's on my register of interest, it's all declared," he said.

"And the council determine whether we qualify [for free rates] or not. And hey ho, they determined we qualified."

Mr Jones said the Labour administration was not "singling out any company at all".

"Every organisation that gets rates [relief], they have to qualify for it," he said.

"And if PCRFM qualify, then that's absolutely fine.

"The council is quite right to look at its assets and see if it can generate income or revenue, there's nothing wrong with that and we're not offended by it," said Mr Fitzgerald.

PCRFM, a music-based community radio station began broadcasting to Peterborough in 2017.

It also provides local news bulletins as well as interviews with local people, organisations and charities.

The station hosts two weekly shows featuring local musicians performing in its studios and promotes local events - and is supported by more than 40 volunteers and three paid employees.

One of the paid employees is breakfast presenter Kev Lawrence, who says the station's main aims are "celebrating the city and giving a platform for lots of people to share what they're doing".

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