BBC affirms commitment to Sunderland and the North East while visiting the city

BBC Director-General Tim Davie has repeated the corporation's "commitment to the North East" during an address in Sunderland.

He announced a new partnership which aims to bring leading figures in the creative industries, alongside local leaders across the North of England, coming together to commit to develop a “Northern Creative Corridor”.

Mr Davie spoke during the recording of the prestigious annual Reith Lecture at The Fire Station.

In a speech to key figures from across the region ahead of the lecture, he said: “We’ve done our Memorandum of Understanding with the North East Screen Investment Partnership, and committed to investing at least £25 million here over five years.

"We’re working with 12 local authorities and three mayoral authorities to work on a plan to fund network TV production, film production in the region.

“Helen Munson, the BBC’s Daytime Commissioner, is based in the North East. And we’ve got the University of Sunderland’s Chrissy Cameron and Newcastle’s Chris Howard presenting BBC Radio 1’s early mornings.

“In the coming months we’ll also have our new dedicated online news service for Sunderland and Wearside.

“We’ve got a brand-new product and technology hub at our refurbished base in Newcastle and committed to 70 new roles there which is fantastic. We’ve got a 15% increase in our headcount here and we’re growing.

“If we get the creative industries in the North, in terms of contribution to the economy, at the same level as London, we would be creating hundreds of millions of pounds worth of economic value. And the jobs will be better paid than average and more interesting.

"We’ve committed to an extra £700million from our budget a year, and 60% of our Network TV commissioning spend, outside London by 2027.

“We’ve also relocated about 200 jobs outside London, and there are now five different locations where you can work your way up in network news, as well as that cross-fertilisation of regional news, across the UK.”

Professor Ben Ansell delivered the Reith Lecture in Sunderland, titled “Our Democratic Future: The Future of Solidarity”. It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service on Wednesday December 13 and available on BBC Sounds.