BBC licence fee freeze: multi-million Birmingham investment could be reconsidered

The BBC’s plans to invest up to £50m in broadcasting in Birmingham and the West Midlands could be reconsidered following the government’s decision to impose a two-year freeze of the licence fee.

The BBC has been exploring the possibility of expanding its services in the city - including setting up a new hub away from its current home in the Mailbox - following pressure to move more production outside London to better represent the whole of the UK.

But following the news of the government’s decision to impose a two-year freeze of the licence fee, the BBC could reconsider those plans with the funding gap set to impact the broadcaster.

In a statement issued to BirminghamWorld, a BBC spokeswoman, said: “We are committed to our plans in Birmingham, but we also need to look at the implications of the licence fee deal.”

What are the BBC plans for Birmingham?

There was great excitement last March when the BBC announced a major expansion of its presence in the West Midlands.

Substantial investments in new production facilities in Digbeth and other parts of the West Midlands were mooted along with drama products, and training and skills provision.

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is already developing a film and television centre called Mercian Studios in Digbeth.

The announcement followed years of spending cuts which ran down the BBC’s facilities in the Midlands while concentrating investment in London and Greater Manchester.

Business leaders at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce welcomed the news.

But when later plans were announced to move BBC Newsbeat to the city there were numerous reports that London-based staff were far from happy.Some staff told the Guardian that they fear leaving the capital will put them too far away from the influence of top BBC execs who are based in London, and they are worried about losing their London-weighting on their salaries.

What does the licence fee freeze mean?

The Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries told the House of Commons on Monday (January 17) that the BBC had asked for the fee to rise to over £180 by the end of the current settlement but said it will instead be fixed at £159 until April 2024 before rising with inflation for the following four years.,

She argued that the freeze was necessary to help households through “difficult times”, telling the Commons: “When it comes to monthly bills, this is one of the few direct levers that we have in our control as a government.”

The Culture Secretary had insisted it was a “fair settlement for the BBC”, with the corporation expected to receive around £3.7 billion in licence fee funding in 2022.

But she also attacked the broadcaster, arguing it needs to “address issues around impartiality and group think”.

“So it’s time to begin asking those really serious questions about the long-term funding model of the BBC and whether a mandatory licence fee with criminal penalties for individual households is still appropriate,” she added.

Ms Dorries also dropped hints of potentially decriminalising TV licence non-payment, saying it is “under review”, and questioned whether the “threat of bailiffs or criminal prosecution is just in today’s age”.

And she announced that Welsh language broadcaster S4C will get an additional £7.5 million per year from the licence fee after a five-year funding freeze.

The annual BBC licence payment normally changes on April 1 each year and is set by the government.

In 2016, government announced that it would rise in line with inflation for five years from April 1 2017.

Today, the fee is reported to be worth around £3.2 billion to the BBC.

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