New BBC team to be based in Leeds as part of corporation's levelling up strategy

The BBC has published a new report setting out its plans to help address regional inequality called ‘Levelling Up and The BBC’. The plans focus on three core areas, investment in places and communities; investment in people and opportunities; and investment in content production outside London.

As part of the action plan, it states “70 new digital roles are being created in Newcastle with staff recruited locally and we will co-locate a new news story team in Leeds”.

The BBC intends to move half of its news gathering teams outside London by the end of 2023, including to Leeds, Glasgow and Cardiff and it has previously announced it will expand its three-year partnership with the National Film and Television School in the same three cities.

The number of BBC apprentices will double to 1,000 by 2025/26 while the BBC says it is the first media organisation to set a target of having 25 per cent of its staff from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

A full-time early years education service for under-fours is to be provided, while the BBC Bitesize scheme is to improve its offer for primary school pupils and those in the first stage of secondary school.

The action plan has been produced following work with The Purpose Coalition chaired by Yorkshire-born former Education Secretary Justine Greening.

Ms Greening said: “I hugely welcome this Levelling Up Action Plan from the BBC. It’s an organisation that is such an part of the fabric of day-to-day life for millions of us. But as this plan shows, the BBC is more than just a source of news or entertainment, it has a wider value that adds to our society and communities.

“Levelling Up and the BBC sets out how the BBC plans to play its own, unique role in levelling up Britain. It revisits the BBC’s original mission of ‘inform, educate and entertain’ to challenge itself on what the BBC can do with its own opportunities and beyond in communities to drive levelling up across our country.

“The report sets out specific steps on the BBC’s wider approach to levelling up, involving not just the Corporation and its programme content, but also the communities it is part of. It also recognises the BBC’s leadership in a wider media sector and its ability to drive change and level up through its supply chain of production companies. It is an important step and essential leadership for the wider country.”

Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, said: “We have the privilege of a public funding model, which means we must deliver great value for all and we must reflect the views and perspectives of everyone, whoever and wherever they are.

“We also have a duty and responsibility to ensure that the social, cultural, and economic benefits of the BBC are felt in every community, in every corner of our nations and regions.”

Channel 4 has based its regional headquarters in Leeds and is currently advertising for a new presenter of its Channel 4 News bulletins to be based in the city.

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