MP calls for more northern voices on national news and praises BBC Radio Sheffield

The MP for Sheffield Hallam questioned Tim Davie, director general of the BBC, during a public accounts committee session amid a wide-ranging restructure of the broadcaster which includes cuts to all local radio stations in England.

Mr Davie said he agreed regional radio stations like Sheffield reach audiences national programmes “can only dream of” and said it was critical they remained.

However, he said Radio Sheffield saw a drop of 23 percent in listeners in five years due to the decline in linear radio.

“I cannot as the director general sit there and go ‘let’s just not move money into areas of growth’,” he said. “What I would love to see is a fully working Radio Sheffield alongside a really good online provision. So those stories about Sheffield, those areas of investigative journalism that only we can do, are sustained. That’s the vision.”

Ms Blake said it was rare to hear northern accents on national media but these voices were particularly important, and questioned what the broadcaster was doing to ensure talent from regional teams was being spotted.

Mr Davie said: “I think we are making progress. I think we are changing the nature of the BBC. I recognise your concerns. I think this has been an issue in terms of migrating people through the system…

“I personally have protected 1,000 apprentices coming in and we are the only organisation to do that. I care desperately about what you are talking about.

“I think you are seeing changes but it will take a few years to work its way through.

“Certainly the idea that you have to have one certain kind of accent or be a certain kind of person to succeed in the BBC would be disastrous for us and we need to be clear about that.”

Stannington major incident

Ms Blake said local news outlets did an “amazing” job of getting information out to people during the recent crisis in Stannington which left 3,000 homes without gas over two weeks.

She questioned why it did not make the 6 o’clock or 10 o’clock national programmes which she said would have put the issue on the government’s agenda.

“When a major civil incident happens in the north why does it not make the national news?,” she said.

Mr Davie said: “There is no agenda not to have the right stories based on their national importance. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don’t. We can debate on whether that story made it, I think we have a pretty good record of putting regional stories up into the 6 and 10.”

Changes at the BBC

The broadcaster’s restructure is aimed at saving £200 million annually as it faces pressure on several fronts.

The government imposed a two-year freeze on on the licence fee, the BBC’s main source of funding; production costs are rising; and the BBC’s long term financing is under review.

It estimates a hole of a about £1.4 billion needs to be plugged over the next five years.