The BBC's plan to slim-down its local radio operation will "mute" local voices, Hertfordshire councillor have said.

At a County Hall meeting on Friday, February 10, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors praised the broadcaster for its commitment to covering local campaigns on BBC Three Counties Radio.

Their praise follows an announcement in 2022 that the broadcaster would end its hyperlocal programmes between 2pm and 6pm on weekdays, replacing them with 18 regional programmes shared across multiple stations in the late afternoons, and 10 shared programmes between 6pm and 10pm.

A total of 10 English broadcasts would replace local programmes on Saturdays and Sunday mornings.

In January 2023, the BBC announced it had revised some of its plans after listening to "feedback from staff and audiences".

Local radio stations will now run 20 broadcasts between 2pm and 6pm, and 18 broadcasts on weekends.

The BBC has promised local news broadcasts and live sports programmes would continue as normal.

There are currently 39 BBC Local Radio stations in the UK – including Three Counties in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

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North Watford Labour councillor Asif Khan told County Hall: "It is the voice of the grassroots.

"Local radio plays such an important part in community.

"Communities make up our county, our towns and our villages – and that's what local radio does."

"Radio cuts from 2pm onwards would mute some of those voices and would minimise that particular sound from the community."

Liberal Democrat councillor Robin Parker, who represents Chells in Stevenage, put forward a similar debate, which councillors discussed at the same time.

He said: "I personally don't have a working television.

"I'm an avid radio listener and have been for at least 60 years.

"There's a wider issue – local radio helps to defend local voices and local democracy."

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Cllr Parker said BBC Three Counties Radio produces "proper local news", travel information, local consumer advice with Jonathan Vernon Smith, and he said the station is a "lifeline" for people who are elderly, housebound, or who have visual impairments.

"Independent Local Radio (ILR) is dead," he said.

"The big boys have bought up all the small stations.

"Yes, there is internet radio, but that's a shoestring operation, it's got no resources for in-depth coverage.

"It certainly doesn't have the resources to do the consumer programme that JVS does on BBC Three Counties Radio."

Conservative councillor Jonathan Kaye, who represents Ware South, is a former BBC radio presenter.

He said: "Much of my career was in BBC Local Radio.

"I concur with what Robin and Asif have been saying.

"National radio works, local radio works, regional radio doesn't work – regional television does but not radio."