BBC aims high for Cardiff
The BBC is aiming for a centre of creative excellence in Cardiff Bay, according to director general Mark Thompson.
At the Cardiff Ambassadors’ Gala Dinner, Mr Thompson said the BBC Drama Village at Porth Teigr was widely regarded as the first step towards a media capital in Cardiff Bay.
He said: “Eighteen months ago, the land around Roath Basin – just a stone’s throw from the Assembly – was barren, nothing more than wasteland. Today, just over a year after construction started on the 38 acre plot, almost 400 people are working on site. That will rise to 600 when it’s full.
He said the money spent by the BBC was a major economic boost to the area. “An independent study of the supply-side impact of the Licence Fee across the whole UK suggests that, quite apart from the benefit for audiences of our investment, every £1 of Licence Fee investment creates more than £2 pounds of economic value.
“Here in Cardiff, it has opened up the prospect of a genuinely world-class concentration of creative and media firepower, and potentially an engine for wider economic growth for Wales.
“There are many people here who believe that the BBC drama village at Roath Lock should only be the start of a much bigger vision – for a media capital either alongside this or on another site, along the lines of what we and others are creating in greater Manchester.
“And here just as there, the thought is that the BBC would be at its heart as an anchor-tenant and creative guarantor, but perhaps sharing a common site with other Welsh broadcasters, producers and indeed people working in quite different, but complementary disciplines.
“The vision for Salford began with the BBC but now includes not just ITV, but independent producers, broadcast resource companies, universities, academies and many others.”
Mr Thompson also predicted that while the money available through the licence fee was likely to fall over the next five years, the proportion spent in Wales is likely to increase.
He said: “The BBC’s long-range strategy of shifting spend from inside the M25 to the rest of the UK and to the nations in particular … will continue. We will hit our overall target of 17% of network production from the three nations early and expect to end up with a proportion of network spend from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland ultimately even higher than this.
“In practice that means that we would expect the proportion of the Licence Fee spent by the BBC to grow slightly between now and the start of 2017. It’s going to be a smaller cake – that’s a fact of life.
“But we expect the slice of investment that comes to Wales to end the period slightly larger than it is now. One of the questions in front of us now is how to work with others to leverage that investment to deliver the highest possible economic benefit for Wales’ creative industries and economy as a whole.”
Richard Thomas, managing director of Cardiff & Co, the company set up to promote the city region to the world, said: “The BBC Media Village is at the heart of the future growth of creative industries in the Cardiff city region. The BBC’s commitment gives us real strength as we seek to promote the area.
“The showcase @CreativeCardiff, launched this year, is our first step in pulling together a creative identity for the Cardiff city region and we look forward to working with the BBC and other partners to help fulfil the vision of creating a media capital in Cardiff Bay.”
Keep up-to-date with Cardiff news by following @CardiffandCo on Twitter.
04/11/2011
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