What’s wrong with Salford Quays? Well, I suppose it doesn’t really help if the entry in Wikipedia describes the location as “next to some of the most socially deprived and violent areas in England.”
Let’s imagine I’m Sarah Lancashire. Oh come on, this isn’t going to work if you don’t take it seriously. Imagine I’m Sarah Lancashire, a working actress and director, and (crucially) with three sons. I have West End theatre experience, and I hope to get back on the London stage when my youngest is a little older.
One day, my husband, Peter Salmon, comes home (this imagining thing isn’t working is it?) and says, “Lancs! (he calls me that; it’s a sort of pet name) Terrific news – I’ve moved up another rung; Director, BBC North! And onto the Executive Board, my fair, blonde, Lancastrian lass!”
The decision, as part of the Charter Review in the mid 2000s, to conjure up a vision of a less London biased future for the BBC, was made during that twitchy midlife New Labour period, when value and common sense were of less importance than visceral nods to inclusion. It may not be too much of a leap into the socially deprived and violent dark to propose that if the decision were being taken in the second half of 2010, a completely different perspective and outcome would be considered.
Hindsight, of course, so often overcomes the need for spectacles, or at the very least presents us with some pretty, rose-tinted contact lenses, but looking back, the announcement of the movement of the BBC Children's Department, Children's Learning, Future Media & Technology, 5 Live, and Sport, was made rather too swiftly.
Now, uniquely, we can’t blame the BBC Trust (we can for everything else: Ross/Brand, Clarkson, global warming, potholes on the A40, England’s World Cup failure...) as it didn’t exist at the time, but the Board of Governors was made up of members responsible for regions away from the south east corner of England, and others whose background, birthplace, or work, left them looking longingly away from the capital.
A move to a brownfield site on two hundred acres of reclaimed docks may have been nodded through with amusement, glee and a big puff of righteousness.
Now it gets a bit complicated. The Peel Group is a land/real estate infrastructure investment company. Their first investment into MediaCityUK is worth half a billion quid. They set up Peel Media to look after the public relations aspect of the development, and whilst there is no evidence at all of spin, we do need to remember that information is delivered by Peel from this background.
This month, Peel was asked to announce the migration of the BBC Breakfast programme to Salford, along with confirmation that two thousand and five hundred BBC staff will move to the Quays from 2011. Naturally key words such as ‘delighted’, ‘pleased’, and ‘success’, pop up in the press release.
So we can say with reasonable certainty that it’s too late to turn back down the M6 now, and an about-face would be too damaging in terms of credibility of management, cost, and the weight of contracted agreements. A betting man or woman may though, if the political wind blows in helpful directions, speculate a pound or two on the BBC buildings being transformed into bijou apartments or designer outlets by (let us guess) 2020, with the whole mini-corporation hiring the removal vans and returning to a slimmed down White City.
Perhaps, caught up in the rush of the BIG IDEA, in 2004, nobody considered that however committed to the BBC, their role, and the future, many of their employees have partners, families; and children placed in schools, where they have established roots and friendships. Hoofing children from a London school to an area “next to some of the most socially deprived and violent areas in England,” may not have quite the earthy appeal that we might find in a BBC drama (“Our Friends in the North West”?) where the new kid in town, with his London accent, overcomes the odds, becomes head boy, and signs for Manchester City.
For BBC staff undertaking the less glamorous roles at Salford, and thus on less glamorous salaries, the advantage of retaining property in Whitton or Isleworth may not be an option. However, an increasing number of the executives are becoming a little coy about any plans to relocate permanently, and word seeps out about taking “the rental option at this stage” which may be both prudent in terms of long term viability, and in keeping harmony in the family home.
So perhaps now we have a greater insight into Sarah Lancashire’s response when husband Peter Salmon came home with that news. Could it have been along the lines of, “Delighted for you darling, but we’re not moving an inch north of Twickenham."
Terence Dackombe, July 2010
