Community Partnership Television
Inverness City Partnership (ICP) and other agency partners are introducing a new community information service for the Inverness area next month. The community television project, to be launched on Wednesday 15 November, will provide an effective and responsive medium for transmitting messages on a wide range of local initiatives over three years.
Nine 42-inch plasma screens will be installed in Inverness in areas which attract high volumes of the public in a waiting situation where they will get maximum exposure to the information. A tenth screen is planned to be located in Tain.
The screens will run a 30-minute loop of “infomercials” covering local projects or initiatives, community safety messages, local warnings or missing persons, events, services. These will be interspersed with generic national material (CCN have a licence to use Home Office and Scottish Executive material), locally produced material of suitable quality and news and weather reports.
The idea was first brought to Inverness by Community Communication Network Ltd. (CCN), a company established in 2003 to transmit information on community safety and other public initiatives on behalf of community safety or local strategic partnerships. They had developed an inclusive package of hardware, software, creative content and web-based management to provide the full service under one contract.
Nick Ross of Crimewatch is a patron and the first network was launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair in his constituency at Easington Co. Durham in April 2003. It has now been rolled out in a further 16 towns and cities across the UK, including Glasgow which launched in April 2006.
ICP and Safeinverness formed a Steering Group in February 2005 and, having discussed the benefits and marketing potential with local partners, decided to raise the funds to install a system in Inverness with a possible roll-out to the wider city-region. The idea was taken to the Small Towns Network Forum in January 2006, and Tain indicated interest in being the pilot rural location.
Marie Mackintosh, City Partnership Officer, explained that initially eight to twelve 30-second local features will be produced with a minimum of four new features filmed each quarter. Themes for Inverness and the Highlands will include: various community safety messages such as fire prevention, drug & alcohol misuse; the environment; business support; local events of all types including Highland 2007; encouraging healthy lifestyles and activities. Up-to-date information about local initiatives and community projects will be a key part of the content.
She said: "The visual medium of television is very effective and has proved a success in other towns and cities. The benefits include raising public awareness about local issues or services available to them and about what’s coming up. This leads to greater take up of help, better engagement between the public and agencies and increased community confidence."
Ends
Background
The 3-year contract for the 10 screens is valued at £175,500.
Funding partners include: Inverness City Partnership, Northern Constabulary, HIE Inverness & East Highland, The Highland Council, Highland Fire & Rescue Service, Highland Drug & Alcohol Team and Highland 2007. The project is endorsed by the Highland Wellbeing Alliance.