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City academy to be sponsored by BBC

30/10/2006

The BBC is to sponsor a city academy in Manchester amid controversy over plans to relocate several broadcasting departments to the city-region, it has emerged.

Along with ITV, the BBC has agreed to provide media skills instruction to the new academy, which is to replace a run-down Victorian secondary school in the city, reports the Sunday Times.

The shadow culture secretary, Hugo Swire, has criticised the decision and said that the BBC "should not be diverting resources or personnel to an academy".

He told the newspaper that he believed the corporation "should concentrate on its core activities and provide value for money".

Manchester City Council is contributing £2 million to the project, which means that neither the BBC nor ITV are being asked to fund the institution, according to the paper.

In recent weeks, the BBC has been the focus of much criticism after it threatened to quash plans to move a number of departments to Salford Quays if an inflation-busting license fee rise is not approved by the government.



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