Lord Patten 'to ask for BBC local radio cuts reprieve'

BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten is expected to today announce a financial lifeline to the BBC's 40 English local radio stations, after criticism of the likely impact of major proposed cuts to their budgets.

In a speech at the Oxford Media Convention on Wednesday, Patten is expected to ask BBC director general Mark Thompson to find a way to ease the £15m of cuts to local radio, which was thought to put around 280 jobs at risk, reports The Guardian.

The local radio proposals were among the most controversial aspects of Thompson's Delivering Quality First budget cuts drive.

The Trust will soon publish details of the results of its public consultation on the DQF plans, before indicating which proposals will be put into place.

Alongside the lifeline to local radio, Patten is also expected to ask Thompson to re-consider the proposed reductions to regional TV programming, including the 40% cut to the annual £5m budget of BBC One's Inside Out strand.

According to official RAJAR data for the third quarter of 2011, BBC local radio stations in England have a total average weekly audience of 7.25 million listeners.

However, stations such as BBC Radio Derby, Radio Merseyside and Radio Tees were facing around 20% cuts to their budgets, leading to suggestion that they would have had to merge afternoon programming across regional networks.

The budget cuts were widely criticised by local radio executives, as well as some MPs and senior church leaders.

> Media Trust: BBC must protect local radio

The Guardian reports BBC local radio sources as giving a cautious welcome to the expected cuts reversal, saying that the move must go beyond the "surface" level.

"If they only knock £1m or £2m off the savings target then it will only be scratching the surface," said the source.

"If they were talking about £5m coming back [leaving cuts of £10m] then you would start to see that making a real difference."

They added: "All eyes will be on what they want us to save. Is it the lunchtime show, is it the quality of the journalism, or is it a bit of both?"

Up to 2,000 jobs are thought to be at risk across the corporation as Thompson looks to secure around £700m of savings under the BBC's tough new licence fee settlement agreed in 2010.