29th March 2009

Town Hall
Sheffield
S1 2HH

Telephone: (0114) 272 7886

Dear Sir

There will be strong opinions on the Star's story and comment about Somali women objecting to losing their satellite dishes (Paul License, 27th March). There is no human right to watch the TV channel of your choice, but if the Council provides satellites for one group of tenants, why not for all? These are the facts:

Analogue TV will be switched off in 2011. The Council must consider whether to replace the existing communal aerials with digital ones for nearly 14,000 households in flats and maisonettes. At the same time, some blocks of flats are being fitted with external insulation which means people have to remove their private satellite dishes as they can't be fixed to the special cladding. There are about 700 dishes currently fixed to 1600 such properties.

The Cabinet meeting on 25th March was presented with four options: do nothing (no cost); replace the TV aerials on all blocks and provide communal Sky and Freesat for those blocks with cladding (cost £2m); replace TV aerials and provide communal Sky and Freesat for all blocks (cost £3m); replace TV aerials and provide Sky, Freesat and additional dishes to receive foreign channels for all blocks (cost £7m). The Lib Dem administration chose the second option.

The option of providing a wider range of satellite dishes for just those blocks with cladding, where people will no longer be able to have their own satellites was not considered or costed. Nor were other solutions, such as finding a way to mount private dishes or inviting contributions from the hundreds of families - of all backgrounds - who have been happy to pay for their own entertainment until now. A combination of willingness to provide for all groups, listening to local people and their ward councillors, and looking at a range of practical, low cost, solutions could still resolve the problem.

Yours

Cllr Jillian Creasy,
Sheffield Green Party