Alison Seabeck MP

Working hard for you

MPs join forces to tackle BBC spending cuts

Gary Streeter and Alison Seabeck have joined forces to write to Lord Patten the Chairman of the BBC Trust calling upon him to intervene in the proposed spending cuts that threaten to weaken local BBC news gathering and broadcasting.

The BBC is currently consulting on a wide range of proposed spending cuts to local services including the possible closure to the popular Plymouth part of the radio Devon morning news show hosted by Gordon Sparkes.

“Losing Gordon Sparkes in the morning would be like cutting of your right arm,” said Gary Streeter the MP for SWDevon. “I urge the BBC to look at cutting back some of the fat cat salaries paid to senior BBC executives and their top talent, and to leave the local radio programmes alone.”

Plymouth Moor View MP Alison Seabeck said “local radio is a lifeline to many of my constituents, especially the elderly, and the BBC are wrong to cut back on this without considering other options. Local radio is a vital part of our democracy.  They certainly ensure MPs across the region are asked searching questions. ”
The two MPs, from differing parties have teamed up together in the past to campaign on issues together including help for water bills, better rail services and support for local businesses.


BBC letter: to Chris Patten

Dear Chris

BBC COST REDUCTIONS

We are writing to express our concern about the impact of proposed changes to local BBC radio following spending decisions made by BBC’s governing body.

In particular we would make the following points:

1.    At no stage have the public been asked whether they would prefer to see a modest increase in their licence fee as opposed to the cuts that are now being proposed. To this effect, public consultation has been faulty.

2.    We are concerned that the spending review has not focussed more on top salaries within the BBC which seem out of kilter with equivalent posts in this sector and the sometimes absurd amount paid to harness “talent”. We would much prefer to see these expensive areas rigorously re-appraised before looking to wield the knife over the news gathering and local broadcasting of the organisation. We recognise the need to bear down on costs and suspect that parts of the BBC have been bloated for some time, but it appears that the spotlight has currently fallen in the wrong place.  We also feel that the listener level for local radio as compared to say some Radio 4 programmes has not been fully considered.

3.     We are concerned about the impact of the decisions to cut spending on local radio in Devon on local democracy. We have already seen several newspapers in Devon move from a daily publication to a weekly in recent months, together with ITV news now covering the entire seven county region which makes it much more remote from most people, and this clearly has an impact on the amount of information and news available to local communities. This must have a harmful effect on local engagement, something the BBC under its charter should be keen to foster.  The loss of ‘Inside Out’ would also add to lack of local investigative journalism.

4.    In specific terms the cuts in Devon are likely to mean that the local news programme for the Plymouth area, much valued by our constituents, will be cut and the news and discussion will be broadcast on a Devon wide or even a region wide basis. This will seriously undermine the ability of the Plymouth Travel to work community to engage with their elected representatives as they currently do. Local radio is a lifeline to many members of our constituencies, especially the elderly and most vulnerable.

We therefore respectfully ask you to look again at the way this process of cost reduction is being handled and in particular to look again at the impact on local radio.



Gary Streeter MP                                  Alison Seabeck MP