THE launch of the Dengie Peninsula's first full-time community radio station is edging closer.

A few details remain to be ironed out, but those behind Saint FM are confident they are facing the final few furlongs before the station goes live.

It was celebration time last May, when communications regulator Ofcom approved the station's bid for a full-time licence.

But then came the task of getting Saint FM, based at St Peter's High School, Burnham, ready for the airwaves.

The team has already done the bulk of the paperwork, sent a group of youngsters on a training course funded by Connexions, and have put bids in for further funding.

But now they are waiting for the go-ahead from Ofcom before they can move the project along.

John Cassels from Saint FM said: "We waited for a couple of years for Ofcom to decide on the outcome of our application for a full-time licence. Now we are waiting again to tell us what our frequency will be."

The station is now unlikely to be up and running by the estimated launch date in May, Mr Cassels said, "but it will definitely be this year - and, we hope, sooner rather than later".

Meanwhile a planning application has now been submitted to Maldon District Council for a ten-metre aluminium mast and community radio broadcast aerial, to be located on a barn at the top of Mayland Hill.

The site has been chosen because the higher the aerial, the wider the area able to receive Saint FM's broadcasts.

Until now the mast has been on the St Peter's High School building, and the coverage was restricted mainly to the Dengie Peninsula.

It is hoped the proposed new location will allow the station to be heard loud and clear all over the Maldon district and beyond.

A spokesman for Ofcom said Saint FM's application for a frequency had been received, and that a decision would be made as soon as possible.