TELEVISION RECEPTION (KINGSWOOD) (Hansard, 16 June 1976)

§ Mr. Terry Walker (Kingswood)

The matter of the poor television reception 706 in my Kingswood constituency is of great concern to many of my constituents, especially those who are unfortunate enough to live in the Woodstock area of Kingswood, which was formerly a mining area.

Many people living there who purchase or agree to hire a television set from a shop in Bristol or Kingswood find when they get the set home that there is such bad reception that it is impossible to watch any programme. In the days of black and white television, reception was always bad in Kingswood, but now, in the days of colour television, reception is impossible.

I have been inundated with complaints over a long period, as have the television dealers over a wide area, and I have discussed these matters with them and with several aerial erectors in the area. The dealers and aerial erectors are most unhappy about the reception in my constituency, particularly in Woodstock.

On 13th January 1976 I wrote to the Home Office, but the reply I received from my noble Friend the Minister of State was not very satisfactory. I wrote setting out the specific problem of my constituent Mr. Cox, of 74 Orchard Vale, who has to have a 20-ft. aerial on a pole on top of his chimney stack to enable him to get a television picture. The Home Office reply stated that Kingswood generally is considered to be well served by the Mendip high power main station and the Ilchester Crescent relay station. The area is not well served. Whoever did the research for that letter knows nothing of the problem. The Ilchester Crescent relay station is on the other side of Bristol and does not help us.

The Home Office letter also stated that advice had been sought from the Post Office interference investigation staff, who act as agents of the Home Office. They confirmed that the screening effects of intervening high ground, on which houses have recently been built, was the reason for the unsatisfactory reception from the Mendip station. They confirmed that Mr. Cox's aerial reached approximately 40 ft from ground level and went on to say that Mr. Cox should seek advice from a reputable local dealer. The letter was inaccurate and badly researched, and that is why I am pursuing the matter tonight.

707 The Home Office has not considered the tremendous television reception difficulties of my constituents, many of whom have realised that buying a television licence is a complete waste of money. A 20-ft aerial on a chimney stack creates difficulties and is impracticable, for the following reasons. The pole is liable to break off regularly, especially during high wind; it has to be replaced, and this involves additional cost. It causes damage to property and often causes the chimney stack to crack. Perhaps more important, it represents a danger to life and limb, because it could fall on the roof, or what is worse, on a passing pedestrian. Insurance cover cannot be obtained because insurance companies say that the risk is too great.

Evidence has been given by television dealers which proves that television sets wear out more quickly under such conditions. That hits the pockets of my constituents if they own their own sets and the pockets of television dealers if the sets are rented. The situation represents a waste of resources. Television dealers are getting fed up with the problems, and many are thinking seriously about the future of business in the area.

As more people switch to colour sets, more people in Woodstock are without good reception than with it. Kingswood is hilly and was once a mining area. As more houses are built on the higher ground, the reception becomes worse for everyone. Many homes were particularly badly affected earlier this year when a fair was held on high ground at Rodway Common. That was disgraceful. I have a list of the roads in Kingswood which are affected by bad television reception. It was compiled from information supplied by television dealers who are concerned not only about the goodwill of their business but about their future prospects in the area. I shall be pleased to pass that list to the Minister in the hope that it will help the Post Office interference investigation staff when they look at the matter again.

My long-suffering constituents need help. A relay station is needed on the eastern fringe of Bristol. The relay station at Ilchester Crescent is not near enough to help the situation in Kingswood. I know that that would involve expenditure and that in days of public 708 expenditure restraint such problems are always cropping up.

I have a map which shows the true position of the Bristol side of the Bristol Channel and I have compared it with the other side of the channel. As a Welsh Member, the Minister will know that on the Bristol side we have two relay stations and that on the Welsh side there are many more. The reason is that the terrain is so bad that it has been very sensible to have a great number of relay stations on that side of the Bristol Channel. But the eastern fringe of Bristol and my constituency just outside it have very similar problems. Therefore, I ask that we should be given similar consideration.

Efforts should be made to provide something to help us. I do not know whether help should be in the form of a relay station or a small booster. Responsible action is needed. As the Home Office told me in its letter, great care is taken to provide the best possible service. I well remember having a meeting with some of the people affected on the Friday night before the Cup Final. They were all worried about what the reception would be like next day. People should not be subject to that kind of worry. I hope that action can be taken to help us to overcome the problem, which is increasing in the Kingswood area.

§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Brynmor John)

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood (Mr. Walker) both for the persistence with which he has tackled the matter and for the eloquent way in which he has put his constituents' case. Despite the late hour, nobody could have put it with more clarity and force on their behalf. Inevitably, what I have to say must in part sound like a lecture on broadcasting and transmission policy generally, but I hope to relate it as nearly as possible to the matters which my hon. Friend has raised.

The first point I should like to make is that the planning and provision of television transmitting stations are the responsibility of the broadcasting organisations. They naturally closely co-operate with each other and with the Home Office.

709 My hon. Friend was right to draw attention to the fact that the advent of UHF 625-line colour television has aggravated the situation, because for colour one needs a somewhat stronger signal. Wherever VHF is available, a weaker signal gives an adequate picture.

The principle which is followed is that a transmitting station should provide all three services—BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. There are two categories of stations. The main or high-power stations have a transmitting radius of 30 to 40 miles, and the relay stations, of low power, fill in gaps, sometimes covering only a mile or two in their immediate vicinity. It is estimated that when the final pattern of broadcasting transmission is established we shall have about 50 main stations and about 400 relay stations covering the whole country.

Kingswood is in the area of the Mendip transmitter, one of the main, high-power transmitters, about 15 miles to the south, so that theoretically at any rate it should be well within the compass envisaged by the radius of which I have spoken. But there are blind spots in all areas. We have not received many complaints, except from my hon. Friend on behalf of his constituents, but I accept that the fact that we have received none may not be an accurate reflection of the situation.

My hon. Friend has spoken about the Ilchester Crescent relay station. I accept that it is some way from Kingswood, but he will equally accept that there was some controversy in the Bristol area about the exact siting of the Mendip transmitter. The transmitter is further away from Bristol than the BBC would like. Had it been sited elsewhere, the signal might have been stronger and more useful in the constituency.

About 96 per cent. of the population of Britain are covered by UHF transmissions, but about 4 per cent., or 2 million people, are not covered at all by UHF. The efforts of the broadcasting authorities are concentrated mainly on bringing as many people as possible from the remaining 4 per cent. into receipt of such a signal as quickly as possible.

The broadcasting authorities at present are engaged in extending coverage to hamlets of 1,000 or more population, 710 mainly in rural areas where, if anything, dependence on television as recreation and entertainment is stronger than in the town.

The problem of all broadcasting and one of the shortcomings that science has not overcome is that the terrain can obstruct the signal even in areas which in theory are well within the range of the transmitter. Some pockets might amount to a square mile or so or to only a few houses which do not receive the same quality of picture as the area generally.

My hon. Friend has fairly singled out Woodstock and Chiphouse as two particular areas in his constituency which suffer. All I can say to him is that we looked into the whole area, as my noble Friend told him in a letter in March. On that occasion the Post Office acted as our agent.

Obviously my hon. Friend feels strongly about the matter, and he mentioned that he has more evidence which seems to suggest a wider spread of poor reception than we had perhaps imagined. I promise him that if, in accordance with his offer, he passes to me the list which he has mentioned relating to streets which have poor reception, not only shall we approach the BBC again with the list, pointing out the numbers of people affected, but we shall put the BBC in touch with my hon. Friend so that he can communicate directly with the corporation and discuss the situation.

The Bristol area was covered at an early stage by the UHF system, and it is inevitable that part of the feeling which lies behind some of the complaints to which my hon. Friend has drawn attention is an impression that nothing is being done in Bristol because the area has already been covered. There is, however, financial and technical constraint upon the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority, and it would be idle to suppose otherwise. We have to work out the priorities. The corporation and the authority are right in concentrating mainly, but not exclusively, on covering areas of the country which are not already covered. I recall that in the broadcasting debate in the House a week ago tonight there was complaint from some rural constituencies that they had no coverage whatever in the UHF band.

711 We believe that the overcoming of that situation would not only contribute towards the justice of the matter but would assist in countering the drift from rural areas that sometimes occurs when young people are not content to forgo amenities in the same way as perhaps their fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers would have done without them.

Within the constraints that are obvious in the matter of finance and within the inherent limitations on reception which apply throughout the whole of broadcasting while technical difficulties still exist, the corporation and the authority do whatever is possible to provide good reception wherever possible.

My hon. Friend drew a comparison between his area and South Wales. I can understand the problems that exist in hilly districts, and I certainly understand the difficulties of reception in hilly mining districts because my home is in an area so affected. However, the main station in South Wales is situated on the coast in the Vale of Glamorgan. Consequently, the hilly areas are behind the coast rather than between the coast and the receiver, which is the position in my hon. Friend's constituency. I can well understand the erratic nature of 712 reception and the complaints that can arise when people become maddened by the fact that they cannot get reception when everything seems to point to the fact that they should be receiving a very good picture indeed.

I shall do what I can to assist my hon. Friend's constituents in this matter. I do not promise that a result can be obtained easily or quickly. I promise, however, that I shall draw to the attention of the BBC the facts which my hon. Friend makes available to me. I shall ask the corporation to look into the matter and I shall contact my hon. Friend, so that he and his constituents may feel that every possible representation that can be made is listened to. If that occurs, I hope that in the fullness of time the reception in the area of my hon. Friend's constituents will improve and they will be satisfied with the standard of reception.

In the meantime, I reiterate that my hon. Friend has done a service to the House and to his constituents in drawing attention to these matters. I hope that my hon. Friend will in turn be satisfied with the response he has been given.