Bournville Village Trust Shropshire

Lightmoor IRS (Integrated Reception Systsem)

Part of Bournville Village Trusts commitment to achieve the highest design standards for the development and management of Lightmoor Village, is the wish to avoid the visual and amenity issues caused by TV and radio aerials and satellite dishes attaching to houses. There is also poor TV reception in some parts of the Village.

Therefore the decision was made by the Joint Venture (Bournville Village Trust & English Partnerships) to use an Integrated Reception System (IRS) for the Village as a whole. All TV and radio signals are received at a single mast and taken round the Village in a net-work of fibres and cables to bring all signals to each outlet. Using this communal system, residents will be able to receive all signals for TV, radio Freeview and Sky.

This system guarantees excellent reception across the Village. Residents don‘t need to worry about aerials and satellite dishes. Such items are prohibited under the design guidance.

The single receiving mast is sited in the meadow near to Round House Park. The mast has ordinary TV and radio aerials and a satellite dish. This is equipped only to receive signals ­ it does not transmit signals. There are none of the possible health risks that are sometimes associated with transmitter masts such as mobile phone masts.

In all cases where residents have a TV or radio, an appropriate licence will be required in the normal way. All residents are responsible for obtaining this licence.

The services provided by the IRS are:

  • Analogue TV ­ BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5
  • Digital Freeview (all digital channels)
  • FM and DAB (digital) radio
  • Sky, Sky+ and Sky HD satellite subscription TV

Residents may need a TV with a digital tuner of some other arrangement such as a Freeview box to get access to some free services.

Sky is a subscription service. Residents need to make there own arrangements with Sky ­ a basic Sky box or an enhanced facility such as Sky+ PVR.

A new IRS Residents Guide has been produced and is available to download here or from your local Bournville Office.