SOUTH Lakeland residents are being treated like second-class citizens because they cannot tune in to the BBC's free digital television services, claims Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins

Now he is to call for a reduction in the TV licence fee for local people and is urging the BBC and Parliament to boost the digital signal from Lancaster, reports Ellis Butcher.

But the BBC says the main problem is that there are not enough frequencies to go around and the system has been devised to give priority to areas with bigger populations.

In 75 per cent of homes nationwide, people need only buy a £99 plug-in adapter to receive Freeview and 30 digital terrestrial channels and 12 radio networks.

A combination of South Lakeland's geography and the fact that Kendal's mast has not been converted to receive digital are other factors contributing to the problem.

After residents complained, Mr Collins plans to lobby the corporation and Parliament to see if the digital signal from the Lancaster mast can be boosted to serve the area.

He said: "It is unjustifiable to pay a full licence for only a small proportion of BBC services.

"It is straight-forward discrimination. We would not accept some parts of the country not getting

electricity or water. For far too long we have been second-class citizens."

Accessing Freeview via Sky or Cable presents planning difficulties and potential additional costs, he added.

Andy Brass, of JB Aerials Services Limited in Holme, said certain properties "in range" of the Lancaster or Bolton masts, such as Grange-over-Sands, could receive digital.

The aerial and satellite engineer, who is a former director of the Confederation of Aerial Industries, said Kendal's Sedbergh Road mast was one of around 1,150 transmitters nationwide.

Mr Brass said OnDigital converted masts to cover large conurbations but other areas missed out and the cost was prohibitive.

He said: "The problem is that nobody knows where the money is going to come from to convert the remaining transmitters, such as those in Kendal, Windermere and South Lakeland."

The Kendal mast no longer had enough room to accommodate the required antennas due to the increasing additions to it as communication-demand grew, said Mr Brass.

Planning restrictions in the Lakes area had also halted larger masts being built, he said.

Reg Birch, 66, of Loughrigg Avenue, Kendal, complained to the BBC and wrote to Mr Collins.

Mr Birch said: "We are paying the same price as anyone in London but not getting the same. They keep plugging these extra programmes but we cannot get them."

In reply to Mr Birch the BBC said until analogue transmissions were switched off there were not enough frequencies to go around without causing interference to other channels.

Janet Morrow, of Freeview, said: "It is nothing to do with investment or building more transmitters. There simply aren't enough frequencies to cover the whole country. It is plotted as best as they can to give it to the most households."

She said the signal faced problems getting "over hills and down into valleys" and smaller relay masts to re-direct would result in interference to existing frequencies.

That would require channels being changed and could cause spark interference in other areas. Some sections of London, all of the Channel Islands and Kent could not receive because of the interference it would cause in France, said Mrs Morrow.

She said boosting the signal from Lancaster would make it more robust but would not project it further.

"You can't create more frequencies because that is the law of physics. The only way you could get coverage is to switch off analogue television completely and use that," said Mrs Morrow.

May 16, 2003 09:00