Memorandum by Manchester City Council
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Manchester City Council (MCC) would
like to make the following submission to the House of Lords Select
Committee's Inquiry on the BBC's Charter Review, specifically
relating to Broadcasting in the Nations and Regions.
1.2 This submission sets out the context
within which the BBC's proposed move to Manchester has been made,
the role and contribution of MCC to supporting this process and
the potential benefits that would be realised by the BBC's proposals
to relocate key network, production and commissioning functions
to Manchester.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 In 2004, the BBC announced plans to
create the UK's second largest network broadcasting and production
centre in Manchester, to achieve a decisive devolution of power,
production and investment from London to the Nations and Regions
of the UK.
2.2 The wide-ranging move would include
the transformation of BBC Manchester into the BBC's second largest
production centre via a major relocation of production and commissioning
functions.
2.3 MCC fully welcomes the BBC's decision
to relocate significant production activity and staff roles. We
believe the relocation to Manchester will be of national significance,
and will contribute to the continued growth of the media and creative
sector will generate very significant economic and social benefits
for Manchester, the North West, and the North of England as a
whole. These benefits are already starting to be evident with
the relocation of a number of new independent production companies
to the City over recent months.
2.4 The emphasis on Manchester as a location
reflects longstanding under-investment by the BBC's networks outside
London. The new centre would act as a talent hub for increased
production, and would help to create the critical mass of activity
required to truly drive the growth of creative industries across
the whole of the North.
2.5 In total, the BBC's proposed move is
likely to involve the transfer of around £275 million worth
of commissioning spend—£50 million of which would flow
to independent production companies—to Manchester. The relocation
is also likely to involve around 1,730 staff posts, joining the
700 BBC staff already based in Manchester.
2.6 In order to maximise the opportunities
afforded by the BBC's plans, MCC and North West Development Agency
(NWDA) are developing a series of specific proposals with the
BBC to deliver a range of benefits that would augment the BBC's
plan to create greater value for the public, thus enabling Manchester
and the wider region to build on its economic assets and market
position, as the UK's leading regional media centre.
3. THE STRATEGIC
RATIONALE FOR
RELOCATING KEY
BBC FUNCTIONS TO
MANCHESTER
3.1 Manchester is the most important economic
generator in the North of England—creating over 40 per cent
of the North West's wealth and jobs. It is the City's objective
to deliver rates of growth in Gross Value Added (GVA), private
investment and employment that can match those of London and the
South East.
3.2 We believe the BBC's proposed relocation
strategy would make a major contribution to our objective, however,
there are a number of key factors that will influence both the
effectiveness and long term sustainability of the BBC's move:
— The contribution and linkages of
the BBC proposal to national, regional, sub-regional and local
policy initiatives;
— The role and contribution of the
public sector in implementing measures to establish the City and
the wider region as a sustainable media centre of choice, and
thereby enable the BBC and the wider media sector to maximise
opportunities to grow and develop.
3.3 It is clear that the economic assets
and potential of Manchester are not only central to the success
of local, sub/city-regional, and regional strategies, but also
strategies of national significance, including the Northern Way
Growth Strategy (NWGS) which recognises that a successful City/region
is critical to the long term sustainable growth of the North of
England. The NWGS will ensure that the growth of media and creative
activity will be properly located within wider national and regional
strategies in order to build upon the existing strengths of the
sector in Manchester and across the region.
3.4 The BBC's initiative is also central
to the desired outcomes of the recent Lyons and Gershon reviews
and the potential benefits which can be captured from relocating
public sector agencies and services out of London, and the role
these services can play in generating economic and social prosperity.
3.5 The Government's national targets on
reducing regional economic imbalances (PSA2) will be critical
to realising the full economic and commercial potential of the
media sector in Manchester, as there is a unique market opportunity
to build upon the BBC initiative to support key growth sectors
such as the media and creative industries, to enable the City
to become truly capable of both complementing and competing with
London in the international market place.
3.6 Currently, GVA and GVA per head of population
in the City does not match the best of our comparator cities in
Europe, despite the fact that over 45,000 jobs in the City have
been created over the last five years through the policy and investment
objectives and priorities of established strategic economic frameworks
and performance objectives. It is also the case that over 60 per
cent of jobs in the City are taken by people resident outside
of Manchester. These strategies, therefore, which command the
support and approval of the key City, regional and national public
sector partners include the Manchester City Region Development
Programme, the North West Economic Strategy, the Science City
strategy and Manchester: Knowledge Capital are designed to create
new and high level employment opportunities contributing to the
overall growth of the City-region's knowledge economy and skills
base, which is expected to grow over 100,000 new jobs in high
value-added growth sectors over the next 10 years. These strategies
and programmes identify a number of key economic sectors where
such growth is feasible. One such sector is cultural and media-related
industries.
3.7 This programme builds upon growing levels
of employment in the field of television production and other
broadcast media: the City is now the largest regional centre for
television and film production in the UK, and is supported by
a highly skilled labour force and a range of service, business
and independent sector networks.
3.8 The BBC's relocation proposals will
enhance this important process of economic change, by making the
critical linkages to key support networks, high quality labour
pools, housing markets and, critically, transport infrastructure.
The relocation of significant BBC investment, therefore, affords
the potential for the highly efficient utilisation of public funds
to support not only the BBC, but the whole creative and media
sector in a way which adds significant additional value to the
local economy, thus multiplying and intensifying benefits. The
overall impact should be a step-change in economic activity and
performance.
3.9 To this end the City Council, with the
support of its partners, proposes to create a Media Enterprise
Zone (MEZ) built around the expanded BBC in Manchester that can
provide a focal point for media, creative and IT-related investment
into the region and ensure that the added value benefits of the
BBC contribute to the long term economic growth of the sector
and secure the wider regeneration outcomes required to sustain
other public sector funding. The MEZ would, we believe, ensure
that the BBC's relocation would achieve:
— complementarity with the policy and
strategic locational priorities within local, sub/city-regional,
regional and northern spatial planning frameworks. The location
of facilities within Manchester City Centre is necessary given
the economic importance of this centre to the wider region, and
its connections to transport, communities and a skills base;
— impetus to transform both the physical
and economic regeneration potential of a new quarter of the City
in which it is located, providing the opportunity to integrate
public and private investment in related facilities, complementary
end-uses and world class public realm;
— new major physical investment into
the region and creating long-term capacity for further growth;
— securing the active participation
of the most significant broadcasters (including ITV/Granada) commissioners
and producers of media output in the UK, in a single but integrated
new campus;
— establishing a regional magnet for
SME investment in media and creative activity and a long-term
driver of growth for the supply chain, both for the BBC and the
wider media industry;
— exploiting opportunities to promote
innovation by linking public and private research into digital
and broadcast media, and strengthening the connections between
the BBC and other stakeholders with Manchester Universities; and
— providing new opportunities to link,
in very practical ways, media sector employers with schools to
improve educational attainment, attendance and the pathways for
young people into skilled careers.
3.10 The proposals will strengthen the development
of a stronger, more diversified media and cultural base within
Manchester, thereby sustaining the long-term impact of the BBC's
relocation. The concept of a MEZ will also create new benefits
underpinning public access to key aspects of the BBC's operations,
thus developing added public benefit to the developing role of
the BBC.
3.11 Independent research has confirmed
that the BBC's expansion plans would not only strengthen the economic
infrastructure of the media sector in Manchester, but also deliver
a step-change in economic performance that would benefit the whole
of the North of England.
3.12 Using economic impact assessment methodologies
consistent with HM Treasury guidelines, Cambridge Policy Consultants
(CPC) have estimated the economic, social and cultural impact
of the BBC North project. According to CPC, the BBC's relocation
proposals would create over 3,700 full-time equivalent jobs, an
estimated 4,400 jobs in total, and generate an additional £1.5
billion in GVA to the North West economy over 10 years, thereby
enhancing Manchester's competitive advantage, as the nation's
largest and fastest growing regional centre.
4. CONCLUSION
4.1 The BBC's proposals around devolved
investment and jobs from London, and the intention to create the
largest regional broadcasting and production centre in the UK,
in Manchester, have the potential to generate significant economic,
social and creative benefits for the City-region and the wider
North of England, as well as helping to transform the prospects
of the media sector in Manchester. Manchester City Council therefore
welcomes the BBC's proposals.
10 October 2005
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