Plans for a community radio station for Rutland and Stamford have taken a further step forward.

A Community Interest Company (CIC) is to take over the Rutland and Stamford Community Radio Project.

And soon it will launch a pilot radio station to test the fesibility of the project.

Rutland County Council this week approved that CIC take over the project to complete its final stages.

This was one of several recommendations contained in an interim report submitted to the council's Cabinet by the project's Independent Project Board.

Other recommendations considered and approved by Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday included:

Issuing a sum equivalent to any remaining project funds to the newly created 'Rutland and Stamford Sound Community Interest Company', in the form of a grant

Transferring ownership of any assets or materials aquired by the Project to the newly created CIC

To not oppose the transfer of the existing Radio Project Manager post from Rutland County Council to the new CIC, in accordance with the Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.

Endorsing the completion of the remainder of the Project by the CIC.

The Community Radio Project was set up using seed funding from Rutland County Council, following the rebranding and refocusing of Rutland's existing local radio station, and has been led by an independent project board since November 2020.

The interim report submitted to Cabinet on Tuesday gave an overview of the Project's work to date and proposed moving to a new 'validation phase' of the feasibility study involving the creation of a pilot radio station, operating under the name 'Rutland and Stamford Sound'.

The move to a CIC model, which will be independent of the Council, will allow the pilot station to seek advertising, grant funding and/or a license from Ofcom as part of further feasibility work.

Coun Oliver Hemsley, Leader of Rutland County Council, said: "It's important to recognise the huge amount of work that's been done by the Rutland Community Radio Project in a very short space of time.

"Having done the hard yards by carrying out extensive research and creating a solid governance structure, the project is now on a firm footing and can move to the next phase – a pilot station that can serve as a true test of the project's viability. Given the commercial nature of this next phase, it makes sense that the work is undertaken by an independent CIC."

Further community engagement around the project and updates about its progress will be organised by the newly created Rutland and Stamford Sound Community Interest Company.