WATCH: Birmingham to be 'biggest beneficiary ' of BBC relocation
Plans afoot to move the BBC 's creative and journalistic centre away from London will position the Midlands as the 'biggest beneficiary ', delegates at Chamber event heard, writes Claudia Congrave.
'The BBC across the UK ' event was as held in discussion with Stuart Thomas (pictured), head of Midlands for BBC England and was hosted by Steve Allen, president of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC).
Mr Thomas spoke in length about what he described as the 'biggest transformation in decades ', which will see the BBC branch further out of London as a way of being more reflective of the public it serves.
According to a KPMG report on the economic impact of the BBC, the national broadcaster was found to generate £4.9 billion for the UK economy.
Over the next six years, the BBC 's strategy is to broaden their contribution and invest £700 million into establishing a larger presence across the UK, specifically within the West Midlands.
When questioned on the drive behind the decision, Mr Thomas explained: “London is a different country in many ways to the rest of the UK.
“There is an understanding at the top of the BBC that to be relevant and stay connected to people we need to de-centralise things and spread the coverage across the country.
“We 've already made an impact in Salford in Manchester and now it 's about how we take that further and spread that attention more fairly. ”
As it stands, Birmingham is home to seven BBC bases and around 1,200 members of staff.
During the event, Stuart detailed plans to take advantage of the existing talent within Europe 's youngest city and expand the number of people on the ground.
Through the creation of new learning hubs and an apprentice training agency, he said that the BBC is doubling their commitment to apprentices by 1000 a year.
When asked what the move will mean for the region, Stuart said: “Without a doubt Birmingham and the West Midlands will be the biggest beneficiary of this move across the UK.
“This is not just about diversity of location, but also about the diversity of people.
“The problem with journalism before has been that there hasn 't always been enough going on in the creative economy in the Midlands for people to stay here in pursuit of those kinds of careers.
“Hopefully that will now be more possible and there will be a transformative change regarding who who we can attract to the BBC and what the workforce will look like. ”
The BBC are also planning to relocate BBC Radio 1 's newsbeat and The Asian Network to Birmingham, as well as creating more opportunity for local reporting in towns that have been previously neglected.
Considering the origins of their television offering, the BBC will also move toward commissioning 60 per cent of their network from outside of the capital.
In terms of boosting the profile of the Midlands region, Mr Thomas was confident that the relocation would be a mutually beneficial move, both for local people and for the BBC as a whole.
He concluded: “The scope will definitely change with this increase in investment. Without downplaying the success and popularity of the show, Peaky Blinders hopefully won 't be the only show that draws people 's minds to the Midlands.
“It 's not just about the BBC moving to Birmingham to build our programmes; it 's about strengthening the country wide connections with the region. ”