ENGLAND
MANAGEMENT REVIEW
2011/12a01	Introduction
02 Two minute summary
04 Service performance
12	Future looking strategy
16	Key priorities for next year
17 Contacts
18 Management

Cover image
The BBC West production for BBC Four, The Lark Ascending was presented by Dame Diana Rigg and featured Bristol’sviolin prodigy Julia Hwang. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ famous piece was performed for the programme at Shirehampton Hall
where it saw its first public performance in 1920.

INTRODUCTION“The BBC’s responsibility
to reflect local life becomes
ever more important asother broadcasters and media
companies reduce investment
or become less local.”Controller overview
The way people consume news andinformation may be changing, but theirrequirements do not. They expect local
journalism they can trust, they want us tobring clarity and context to local issues, and,
when appropriate, they want us to holddecision makers to account. Satisfying thesedemands has been a strong theme for ourteams over the last year.

All of our Local Radio stations now run’Hot Seat’ programmes where chief
constables, mayors, council leaders andeven judges are put on the spot by listeners.
Our online teams have concentrated on
adding depth and context to our web
pages, while Inside Out on BBC One
delivered a number of high-profile
exclusives. In regional television we haveinvested extra resources in the bulletins
after the Ten O’Clock News, with more live
newsgathering and correspondent analysis.
The BBC’s responsibility to reflect local life
becomes ever more important as otherbroadcasters and media companies reduceinvestment or become less local. This point
was reinforced many times in the public
response to the consultation about the
BBC management’s Delivering Quality First
proposals to reduce the amount of Local
Radio and regional current affairs. Those
proposals are now being revised and I am
confident they will allow us to continue
offering a strong and trusted local editorial
voice throughout the current licencefee period.

David Holdsworth
Controller, English Regions

1

TWO MINUTE SUMMARYBBC English Regions is a major provider of news and original
journalism across radio, television and online. Our teams, basedin 50 locations across England, are at the heart of the BBC’s
domestic newsgathering operation and enjoy the privilege of theclosest possible relationship with our audience, working with themevery day to tell their stories, debate their views and share theirexperiences. Our programming gives a local focus to the key stories
which affect our lives and calls those in authority to account for
their decisions.

MAJOR CENTRESREGIONAL TELEVISION
BBC LOCAL RADIO AND WEBSITES
BBC LOCAL WEBSITESBBC Cumbria

BBC Newcastle

NORTH EAST
& CUMBRIA
BBC Tees (Middlesbrough)Isle of Man
BBC Isle of Man (Douglas)

YORKSHIRE

BBC York

BBC Leeds

BBC Bradford

BBC Humberside (Hull)

BBC Lancashire (Blackburn)

YORKSHIRE &LINCOLNSHIREBBC Manchester
BBC Merseyside (Liverpool)

NORTH
WEST

BBC Sheffield

BBC Lincolnshire (Lincoln)

EAST MIDLANDSBBC Stoke

BBC Nottingham

BBC Derby

BBC Norfolk (Norwich)

BBC Shropshire (Shrewsbury)
BBC Leicester

WEST MIDLANDS
BBC WM (Birmingham)

BBC Northampton

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

EAST

BBC Cambridgeshire (Cambridge)

BBC Hereford & Worcester (Worcester)

BBC Suffolk (Ipswich)

BBC Three Counties (Luton)
BBC Gloucestershire (Gloucester)

BBC Essex (Chelmsford)

BBC Oxford LONDON
BBC London

BBC Wiltshire (Swindon)
BBC Bristol

Lundy Island

BBC Berkshire (Reading)

WEST

SOUTH

SOUTH WEST

BBC Sussex & Surrey (Guildford)

BBC Kent (Tunbridge Wells)

BBC Somerset (Taunton)
BBC Solent (Southampton)

BBC Solent for Dorset (Dorchester)Isle of Wight
BBC Devon (Plymouth)
BBC Cornwall (Truro)

Isles of Scilly
Channel Islands
BBC Guernsey (St Peter Port)

Guernsey

Alderney
Herm
Sark
Jersey

2

SOUTH
EAST
BBC Sussex & Surrey (Brighton)

BBC Jersey (St Helier)Local Radio hours of output

Television

Cornwall

5,750

5,702

Regional television continues to draw a large andappreciative audience. Daily news teams have produced arange of strong journalism centred on the key stories foreach region and our weekly programmes have built on thiswith depth and analysis. Original journalism has been thecornerstone of our Inside Out strand and reshaped Politics
Shows are generating high-quality political debate.

Coventry & Warwickshire

5,409

5,006

Local Radio

Cumbria

7,183

6,994

Derby

5,698

5,506

Station2010/112011/12
4,977

Berkshire

5,011

Bristol

7,262

7,019

Cambridgeshire

5,762

6,428

Devon

7,229

6,818

Essex

5,082

5,062

Gloucestershire

5,021

4,811

Guernsey

4,429

4,551

Hereford & Worcester

5,820

5,833

Humberside

6,155

6,085

Jersey

4,387

4,537

Kent

6,280

6,143

Lancashire

7,403

7,453

Leeds

6,756

6,404

Leicester

5,319

5,198

Lincolnshire

4,245

4,333

London 94.9

8,760

8,784

Manchester

8,214

7,725

Merseyside

7,330

7,116

Newcastle

8,990

8,899

Norfolk

5,599

5,594

Northampton

5,108

5,090

Nottingham

6,588

7,025

Oxford

5,365

5,323

Sheffield

6,923

6,742

Shropshire

5,823

5,843

Solent (incl. Dorset)

7,093

7,005

Somerset

2,650

2,645

Sussex & Surrey

5,770

5,634

Showing a positive audience trend after a period of decline,
Local Radio has consolidated its position as the homeof local speech radio, offering strong original content
based around key stories and a forum for debate andaccountability. Work is under way to deliver a reduced
range of cuts under the Delivering Quality First project
after a BBC Trust review of initial proposals.

OnlineOnline in the English Regions continues to grow uniqueusers and build appreciation. A fully converged team is now
wholly focused on news and sport and adding richness
and depth to our offering. Social media continues to growin importance as we find new ways to interact with ouraudience. A focus on mobile and live and dynamic coverage
will characterise 2012/13.

Multimedia

English Regions teams work effectively together to sharecontent and gather material on a multimedia basis with newtechnology playing a key role. More work is still needed toensure we cross-promote opportunities to explore content
which adds value to the audience’s experience right across
our output.

Partnerships

BBC News School Report has had another successful year
for us. Thousands of children in secondary schools havetaken part with the support of mentors and with content
broadcast on all our stations. Work has started on creatinga framework for formal partnerships to serve the new local
TV operations in a number of areas.

Outreach

Stoke

5,107

5,144

Suffolk

5,553

5,543

English Regions continues to work with a range of groups
and organisations both on and off air to deliver on our
public purposes. Work with cultural organisations tocreate local music and drama has generated much valued
output. Charitable appeals with partners have raised wellover a million pounds for local projects.

Tees

6,012

5,958

Technology

Three Counties Radio

7,118

7,138

Wiltshire

5,505

5,030

WM

6,840

6,827

York

5,523

5,380

236,072

233,305

Total hours

Prioritisation has been the watchword as financial
constraints slow down much of our technology-related
ambitions. A plan to create more centralised Local Radiotechnology, which would deliver substantial benefits
continues to be worked on. Smaller, lighter and quicker,
to use newsgathering technology is being trialled.

3

SERVICE PERFORMANCE
Daily television remains the backbone of our news provision,
reaching 20 million adults each week with key, breaking and original
news stories. When riots affected several English cities during
the year our regional news programmes provided extensive coverage
and analysis, with reporting teams working in the most difficult
circumstances to bring our audiences a detailed and accurate
account of events. A cameraman was attacked while filmingin Manchester and a broadcast vehicle was burnt out.
BBC Points West and BBC Spotlight worked
closely with radio and online colleagues
to produce detailed coverage of thecatastrophic M5 accident and followed thisup with accounts from those who use themotorway regularly and those living andworking in the immediate area. Investigative
teams from the two regions joined forces
to look into the potential causes of theaccident and asked why motorways likethe M5 haven’t adopted safety systems todeal with fog as recommended and used
extensively abroad.
BBC South East Today revealed details ofchild abuse by priests in Sussex. The region
also sourced significant new lines on the
Milly Dowler investigation and an exclusive
1. Norwich City striker Grant Holtreturns to his local roots, joining
BBC Radio Cumbria’s Chris
Lumsdon for a Carlisle Unitedcommentary.
2. BBC Radio Derby’s presenter
Aleena Naylor chairs a debate
on the local economy at Derby’s
Silk Mill, the site of the world’s
first factory.

4

1story about Lord Lucan allegedly having
been flown to Africa to escape justice.
BBC Look North (Yorkshire) told the storyof a Falklands veteran who journeyed backto the islands to meet an Argentine airman
he thought he had shot down and killed.
It was a regional news programme,
BBC North West Tonight, that got the BBC’s
first interview for many years with Sir Alex
Ferguson, an interview which was pickedup nationally and internationally and whose
online version attracted 500,000 hits on
the BBC Sport website.
English Regions teams have continued towork on a variety of network partnerships,
particularly with BBC Learning, on projects
such as Stargazing Live and Springwatch.

Local Radio
The past year has been a positive one for
BBC Local Radio following a period of
gradual growth since 2009. High-quality
journalism has been a priority, with amore consistent approach taken to ourprogramming strand ‘Hot Seat’, whichcalls those in authority to account. Our
new political reporters have been active
across Local Radio and beyond and aredemonstrating their value on a daily basis,bringing real depth to our coverage ofa range of key stories from upheavals inthe steel industry in Scunthorpe and theheritage train-making industry in Derby tothe closure of care homes in Oxfordshire.

BBC Radio Merseyside was amongst
stations which stayed on air live overnight
to cover the riots that broke out in
Liverpool and other English towns andcities over the summer. The station gave
listeners the chance to debate what had
happened and what should be done about
it. They rang in and wrote to the stationin substantial numbers to express theirappreciation of our coverage.
BBC Radio York ran an investigation into
the number of children being diagnosed
with depression and conducted an
extensive piece of work on the impact of
post-traumatic stress disorder on soldiersand their families. The station also revealed
that the number of staff at NHS North
Yorkshire and York signed off with stress
had doubled in the past two years.

2

5

SERVICE PERFORMANCE CONTINUED

Hampshire’s Cold Cases was a one-off
investigation into the work of Hampshire
Constabulary’s Operation Galaxy team,which reopens files on sexual offences. BBCRadio Solent highlighted the consequences
for the Operation Galaxy team, and forvictims and perpetrators, of changes tothe forensic science service. BBC Radio
Berkshire, meanwhile, reported on a listof more than 400 homes in the county
where ambulance crews won’t go without
police back-up.
BBC Tees produced a hard-hitting story
about a woman from County Durham
whose daughter was groomed by apaedophile online and who, as a result, iscampaigning for the victims of grooming
to be better looked after following theirordeal. The station also ran a series on
the acute shortage of foster parents
on Teesside. Stockton Council said theyexperienced a significant upturn in interestin fostering following the series.

1

1. Pete Morgan, BBC WM’s new
breakfast presenter.
2. BBC Radio Derby’s presenter
Phil Trow talks to Derby’s Mayor
at a Royal Wedding street party.

62

BBC WM commissioned a poll about the
mayoral elections. This ran locally and on
The Daily Politics. The poll found that six outof ten residents in Birmingham didn’t know
the referendum about elected mayors wastaking place in May. The Stafford Hospital
investigation into patient care was covered
extensively by BBC Radio Stoke, withcoverage generated by the station teamfeaturing on Local Radio, network radio
and TV.
Across BBC Local Radio our network offaith programmes reported on a speciallycommissioned BBC poll which asked
whether children were attending a daily act
of Christian worship in school – a statutory
requirement in state schools in Englandand Wales. More than a quarter said theirchildren weren’t. The story received highprofile follow-up on BBC Radio 4’s Todayand BBC Radio 5 Live, amongst other
outlets. Meanwhile, BBC Tees researched
the remuneration and benefits of vicars,
priests and imams in a special series called‘Funding Faith.’Local Radio stations regularly join together
as a network to add impact to big projects.
2011/12 has been a year of effective
partnerships, with BBC Radio 4 in particular.
In January we took part in the Desert Island
Discs 70th anniversary, with every station
running Your Desert Island Discs strands withlocal people and local stories. BBC Local
Radio was also a key player in BBC Radio 4’s
The Listening Project which began in March,with five stations and reporters taking partand making output for local programmes
and BBC Radio 4.
The breakfast development programme set
up two years ago continues to work witheditors and teams on driving quality andconsistency on our breakfast output. The
mid-morning development programme,
now in its second year, has worked with adozen stations over the last 12 months. Run
by the BBC’s College of Journalism, it aims
to improve ambition and quality at3

mid-morning on BBC Local Radio. Reachhas risen steadily since the development
programme began.
It’s been a year in which Local Radio has
been under the spotlight due to the BBC’s
Delivering Quality First programme. Early
proposals to save a significant amount ofmoney, largely by sharing more output,
were challenged by the BBC Trust andthe scale of the cuts will now be reduced,
although they will remain tough to deliver.
The proposals and their outcome created aperiod of uncertainty for staff and listeners
alike but amidst all the upheaval BBC Local
Radio continues to be a trusted friend,a provider of information and a catalyst
for debate, occupying its place at the heartof the community and giving local people
a voice.

3. BBC Radio York’s Adam
Tomlinson presents his breakfast
show live from the Great
Yorkshire Show, July 2011.

7

SERVICE PERFORMANCE CONTINUED

Weekly programmes
Inside Out has continued to deliver strongaudience figures in a highly competitive slot
on BBC One. An average of 3.1 million
people watched the series across England
during 2011/12 and a high Appreciation
Index score of 83 across England. There
were many cases of outstanding journalism
attracting local and national audiences
across TV, radio, and increasingly, online.
In the South, an investigation brought
to light the activities of a yacht delivery
company that had contributed to the deathsof five sailors in three separate incidents
at sea. In the North East & Cumbria
region, Inside Out reported on a log keptby accident and emergency staff at the
Cumberland Infirmary, where staff believed
conditions to be unsafe. A leading consultant
told the programme he thought the hospitalwas ‘close to breakdown’. An Inside Out
East Midlands story on fake vodka secured
coverage on Today, BBC Radio 5 Live and
You and Yours and following the shooting of
three women in County Durham at New
Year, Inside Out North East revealed thatit had been recommended the gunman
had his licence refused on the grounds
Tanya Arnold is the new presenterof the Super League Show, the weekly
rugby league highlights programme
produced for BBC One from Leeds.

8of police knowledge of previous domestic
disputes. The recommendation had been
overturned and the case is subject to an
IPCC investigation. In the South, a film
highlighted racial tensions between Gurkha
and white English youths in Aldershot.
Inside Out has been uniting its regional
teams across England to look at specificsubjects such as alcohol abuse and university
fees. The South West and West regional
teams also worked together to investigate
the serious accident on the M5 whichclosed the motorway and led to many
deaths. Recent online statistics have beenhigh – an item from the South East on
Lord Lucan attracted a million page views
within 24 hours.
Television special programmes continue
to be commissioned. Highlights haveincluded debates marking the electionof a new mayor for Leicester, the General
Election on the Isle of Man, and progresson the Olympics preparations for London.
More of these regional specials are now
getting a network repeat, showcasing the
programme across the nation. Examples
include The Truth About Wildlife (southern
regions and BBC Two), Hidden Paintings

(all regions and BBC Four) and Vox Pop:How Dartford Powered the British Beat
Boom (BBC SE/BBC Four). We have also
re-versioned regional films for network,for example Saxon Hoard (WM/BBC Two)and TV Greats: Our Favourites from the North(NW/BBC Two).
Our political programming was successfully
revamped and relaunched as part of the
network BBC One show, Sunday Politics.
There is a new format, featuring prominent
political guests of the day, and a 60 second
review of the political week together witha renewed emphasis on harder politicalinterviewing to hold local opinion-formers
to account. An increase in the volume andquality of input from our new chain of
Local Radio political reporters is provinga real journalistic asset. Audiences remain
just below the one million mark for the
programme and its regional opt-outs.

Special debates on the economy, based on
research showing relative growth around
England, performed well with a reach of
716,000 across the country and many of thestories which emerged running on other
BBC output across radio, TV and online.
Minority ethnic community specialist
teams across the country have supported
English Regions outlets with newsgatheringexpertise that added depth of perspective
to our coverage of some of the biggest
news stories of the year. From the riots
in the summer to the Stephen Lawrence
verdicts, our community specialists have
not only served local news but sourced
and produced material for networknews programmes.

Children in Need ‘Big Night Out’at the Spa Pavilion Felixstowe,November 2011, a sell-out
performance showcasing thetalent pool at BBC Radio Suffolk.
The evening raised £10,000 forChildren in Need.

9SERVICE PERFORMANCE CONTINUED

In order to raise awareness in the
independent television sector, Heads ofRegions supported by our HQ team helda series of advice and feedback sessions.
Around 60 companies were represented
at the sessions, which were positively
received. Representatives were keen to
discuss a range of topics from how to pitch
for network commissions to the amountand nature of business generated by
English Regions.
This year’s Children in Need saw BBC English
Regions at the heart of the appeal nighton BBC One with a spectacular children’s
choir broadcast from locations across thecountry. The event was one of the mostpopular parts of the show and led to a peakin donations. For this year’s Red Nose Day,
40 BBC Local Radio presenters braved
stages across England to make audiences
laugh in Stand Up For Comic Relief.

1

OnlineOur online offering has once moreexperienced strong growth. In 2011 theBBC News England website was read by anaverage of 5.9 million UK unique browsers
each week, up 49% on 2010. Audienceswere significantly boosted by the retentionof new users around big news events suchas the August riots – which saw our highest
traffic ever (12.5 million unique browsers
in one week) – and the M5 crash inearly November.
Our proposition is based around key
and breaking news with strong original
journalism and an emphasis on creating
depth and context around our mostimportant stories. Now fully integrated aspart of the BBC News website with a teamthat has benefited from significant training
investment, it has built depth and richness
and seen a range of developments suchas the new correspondent pages whichallow us to showcase output from our
Political Editors.

2

1. BBC Radio Leeds presenters
Adam Pope and Katherine
Hannah take on a challenge
for Sport Relief – pedalling
127.5 miles down the Leeds
to Liverpool canal in a swanshaped pedalo.
10

The site has undertaken major projects –both online-led and as part of wider BBC
editorial – on everything from the state ofEngland’s roads to the economy, to a major
piece of work on the role of cathedrals inmodern society.
The English Regions sport online service
was relaunched in early 2012, putting the
focus more firmly on our strong multimedia
offering and creating a dedicatedEngland index.
Social media has continued to develop witha new policy being launched specifically for
English Regions output and a new curated
Twitter feed for England online news whichshares the best of our content in a moreengaging way.

3

Sport
English Regions sports coverage continues
to reflect sporting activity, from Premier
League to grassroots. The build-up to
London 2012 has given us the chance tofollow local athletes as they strive for aplace in Team GB. Each English Region
produced a British Olympic Dreams special
for BBC One in January. Our Local Radio
coverage takes in not only football but
county cricket and both codes of rugby
plus many minor sports. Late Kick Off
returned to BBC One to turn the spotlightonto our Football League clubs on andoff the pitch, while the Super League Show
began its 14th year with a new presenter,
Tanya Arnold. A dedicated online teamproduces more than 50% of the content
for www.bbc.co.uk/sport.

2. BBC Bristol Kick Off sport
reporter Thomas Herbertcollects his certificate forcompleting the work experience
scheme from Gabby Logan at
BBC Television Centre in London.
3. The South, South West and West
Late Kick Off team of presenterJames Richardson with regular
guests Graeme Murty and Leroy
Rosenior and the Football League
Championship trophy on the set
in Southampton.

11

FUTURE LOOKING STRATEGY
Richer journalism with the emphasis on key stories, local expertiseand analysis and accountability. A keener focus on interactivity
through social media and the use of new technology to make our
newsgathering quicker and more effective from a wider rangeof locations.

The best journalism in the world
BBC English Regions will play its part inensuring the BBC remains the UK’s mosttrusted news broadcaster, attracting
large and loyal audiences. We will aim to
maintain our reach in an increasingly busy,
competitive and disaggregated marketplaceand develop our reputation for qualityand distinctiveness.
Daily TV news will continue to focus
on making key stories accessible andoffering depth and analysis through ourrange of specialist correspondents andlocal reporters.
Local Radio will secure its position as thehome of local debate on key issues throughdeveloping the profile of its accountability
programming. We will continue to work1

12

closely with the BBC’s College of Journalism,drawing on its expertise and experience tohelp shape our offering and make it more
focused and consistent. We will also starta parallel piece of work to improve ourprogramme on weekend mornings.
In online we will enrich and develop ourjournalism, adding depth and value tostories through improved analysis, andinfographics. We will further improve ourmobile offering to ensure that our content
is presented as accessibly as possible acrossall devices.
In weekly programming we will commission
more films from our daily TV newsrooms
for Inside Out, maximising the skills of ourjournalists who have developed expertisein investigative, short and long form work.
1. Following disturbances in Bristol’s
Stokes Croft area during Easterweekend 2011, which centred ona Tesco Express store, BBC West
looked into the unique characterof the neighbourhood, famousin the region for its fiercely
independent and alternative style.
2. BBC Radio Manchester’s Becky
Want presents her show fromthe station’s new studios at
MediaCity Salford.

Our editorial focus will be on delivering
depth and insight across the biggest
stories which most affect and interest ouraudiences. Particular attention will be given
to finding clear and interesting ways tocontinue telling the story of the economy– an issue we know is of very significant
interest to our audience. Other stories wewill develop include looking at the impact
and legacy of the Olympics, the General
Synod vote on the creation of womenbishops and its effect on the Church, thepotential effect of Scottish independence
on England, substantial coverage andanalysis of the local elections in May andan investigation into water shortages
after the year started with many regions
experiencing drought conditions.
Building audiences
TV audiences will aim to maintain their2011 reach performance through creating
a balance of key and original stories, strong
investigative work and special programmes
which play to the uniqueness of each of
our local areas, their culture, heritageand challenges.
In Local Radio we will grow our audiences
towards a long-term weekly reach targetof eight million. We will expect each stationto achieve annual growth, building on theinvestment we have made in breakfast andmid-morning editorial and training and thebenefits this has already delivered.
2

We will aim to grow online reach, with aparticular focus on adding value through
IPTV, mobile and social media. We will
also redouble our efforts to ensure thataudiences use the BBC website as a way
to access other local journalism from thelocal press and other providers.
Connected journalism
We will begin to deliver a more connectedstrategy for our news offering, working
on plans for connected TVs and bettercross-promotion of our content acrossall local media and beyond.
Our investment in technology has had
to be scaled down because of financialpressures but we will continue to workon plans to centralise and streamline Local
Radio technology through a project which
has already been piloted in Northampton.
This will enable centralised production
systems to be shared across a number ofstations, increasing resilience while reducing
the long-term cost of renewing stations’technical infrastructure. We will also
invest in new newsgathering technology
which will allow our teams to gather andpublish material quickly and effectively
from location.

3

3. Alistair Durden and modern
pentathlete Heather Fell in their
Team GB tracksuits filming for
BBC West’s Olympic Dreams.

13

FUTURE LOOKING STRATEGY CONTINUED

Inspiration and commitment in the fields
of knowledge, music and culture
Coverage of the Cultural Olympiad around
London 2012 and the Diamond Jubilee
celebrations will provide a wealth of cultural,artistic and musical content right across
our output as the world turns its attention
to the UK for a summer of big events.
Our new music strand BBC Introducing willcontinue to act as a platform for new talent– with particular focus on the summer
festivals. Closer working between our news
online teams and those in BBC Factual &Learning will help to ensure our audiences
make deeper and more valuable journeys
into our online content.

114Creating events and opportunities
to bring communities and the nation
together
Substantial work has already been done onplanning our coverage of London 2012 andthe events which surround it. Investmentin the Torch Relay will see dedicated teams
supported by the English Regions bus
provide high-quality coverage and focus
on local events wherever the torch goes.
We will focus on delivering speech-led
programmes for minority communities
at 14 of our stations, which we anticipate
will feed into and enrich both our
day-to-day news coverage and our workon local, national and global events. Local
Radio stations will be set the objectiveof delivering two high-profile editorial
projects in the course of the year with theaim of highlighting key issues, through strong
journalism and creating opportunities forengagement and active citizenship.

2

Value for money
Generating the savings to which we havecommitted under Delivering Quality First
will be a major challenge. We will work
hard to safeguard quality and protect ourhighest priority content and output. English
Regions will work closely with other partsof the BBC on technology, property andother efficiency projects. Staff savings will
be delivered with attention focused on
redeployment opportunities and providing
the best possible value from all our teams.
Objectives
Maintain 2011 reach levels for daily TV
news and weekly programming. Move
Local Radio towards a weekly reach ofeight million and continue to grow online
reach and appreciation.
Focus our investment on key and original
journalism, generating unique content which
supports understanding and engagement.
Develop our Local Radio accountability
strand and maximise our investigative
journalism resource across daily andweekly output.

3

Build a connected journalism strategy for
English Regions content, creating an IPTV
proposition, improving our mobile offering,developing social media and enhancing
opportunities to drive content between
English Regions and other parts of the BBC.
Deliver the financial targets laid out in
Delivering Quality First whilst maintaining a
focus on distinctiveness and quality. Ensurethat any reinvestment is targeted towards
enhancing our journalism and our ability
to connect to audiences across all platforms.

1. BBC Lincolnshire’s Louise Wheeler
and Rod Whiting completing the
Big Bike Ride in October 2011. They
cycled 600 miles from Neustadt
in Germany and raised more than
£25,000 for Children in Need.
2. Boscombe resident Liz Thomsitt
discovers Dolly Dorset – oneof our three bottles fitted withGPS by BBC Radio Solent for its’Summer Splash’ celebrating lifeon the water.
3. BBC Radio Cumbria reporting on
the public sector strike in June 2011
in Carlisle city centre.
15

KEY PRIORITIES FOR NEXT YEAR

• Ensure that we continue to provide
distinctive, high-quality and original radio,
TV and online journalism within theparameters of a BBC reshaped under
the Delivering Quality First initiative.
• Push forward further developments
supporting the strengthening ofjournalism and production around our
Local Radio breakfast and mid-morning
programming. Continue to develop richer
local politics reporting and accountability.

16• Develop our online proposition to
include more original journalism and an
improved mobile service in view of thefact that research predicts that more thana quarter of total online time will be via
mobile by 2015.
• Continue to provide services throughout
English Regions which target parts of theaudience less well served elsewhere in
the BBC. In doing so, foster the uniquebond that we, as a local speech andpublic service broadcaster, share with ouraudience and find new ways to enhanceand develop this relationship.

CONTACTS

If you wish to find out more about
the BBC’s year – including full financial
statements and performance against otherpublic commitments – then please visit
www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport
If you want to know more about
how the BBC is run, then please visit
www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc
BBC Information is our audience’s virtual
front door to the BBC. If you have aquestion, comment, complaint or suggestion
about BBC programmes and services, thenplease write to us here:
BBC Information
PO Box 1922
Darlington
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17

MANAGEMENTDavid Holdsworth

Laura Ellis

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Ian Hughes

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HEADS OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL PROGRAMMING

Mike Macfarlane

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