2011 press releases

14th Dec: "Cut waste, not local radio", says local MP. BBC bosses "not on the same wavelength as listeners"

BBC bosses should tackle waste, excessive layers of management and inflated salaries, instead of taking the axe to local radio. That is the view of Lewes MP, Norman Baker, who has now written accordingly to BBC's Director General, Mark Thompson.

Big wigs at the BBC are seeking to cut local radio by 20%, in a move that could irrecoverably damage local radio news and community reporting, and lead to a quarter of the jobs at BBC Sussex being cut. The Director General, Mark Thompson launched the Delivering Quality First initiative following last year's licence fee settlement that resulted in the BBC taking on extra funding responsibilities including the World Service. In total, the initiative is expected to lead to the loss of about 2,000 jobs across the corporation, and much of the cuts are focused on local radio.

However, in a letter to the Director General, the local MP has questioned the need for such a drastic cut to local radio and believes that cuts should be found elsewhere. The MP has found information showing that:

• In one twelve month period, the BBC spent £8.23million on consultants
• The BBC employs over 340 staff earning over £100,000 a year (up 17 on last year)
• The BBC employs over 1,000 staff earning over £70,000 a year
• One Match of the Day host gets £40,000 an episode
• Senior managers receive a car allowance even if they cannot drive, estimated to cost in total £3.27million per year
• The Director General, the Director of BBC People and Chief Financial Officer have a combined remuneration package worth over £1.5million per year

Norman says: "As with many organisations, in these tough economic times the BBC has to reduce spending, but I really question how they are going about it. 5.5million of the 7.5million people who listen to radio only listen to BBC, yet it is radio that the BBC is targeting for cuts. I am sure the average listener would agree that first they should start by addressing the haemorrhaging of money on the top management and presenters' remuneration packages, before they even think about touching the extremely valuable local radio services, which encourage a sense of local community. BBC's top management is simply not on the same wavelength as the BBC's listeners."

|Home

|Issues

|Press

|Norman and his work

|Useful Links

|Contact Norman

|Site map and Search

|Norman's flickr page

|Norman's Diigo page

|Norman's Facebook page

|National LibDem site