BBC England hardball

The BBC's non-executives, guardians of the public interest, are still up to the hilt in the hollowing out of BBC local radio. 

Minutes of the BBC England committee from January this year, chaired by Sir Robbie Gibb, with Sir Nicholas Serota alongside, show no cause for concern.... 

2 Director’s report - Local
2.1 The Chair congratulated Jason Horton on his appointment as Director of Local Production in England.
2.2 The Committee discussed the Local Value for All plans in England.
2.3 Engagement with staff has increased throughout the delivery of the Local Value for All plan.
2.4 Some adjustments to the proposals have been made following feedback from staff and trade unions.
2.5 Next steps in the plan include continued engagement with members of staff, unions and key stakeholders. 

This was on 10th January; on the 18th January, the BBC made public marginal reductions in the scale of shared local radio programming.  The 'continued engagement' worked so well with the NUJ that on the 19th they called a consultative ballot, followed by a formal ballot announced on 30th January.   

The fearless England committee planned to visit Radio York on 30th March - that followed a one-day strike on 15th March, and was followed, on 31st March by the announcement of a further one-day strike. We'll have to wait some time for another set of minutes to see how the visit went, or if it happened at all.  

Meanwhile former BBC local radio manager Liam McCarthy has had a briefing from an unidentified member of the BBC England top team and reports: "It looks like the England management team are going to double down on the changes. I was told that they believe the support of staff for the campaign against the local radio cuts led by the NUJ is waning. So confident are they that I was told all previous concessions made to the NUJ by the BBC have now been taken ‘off the table’. The BBC have apparently written formally to the NUJ to inform them of this change."