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Anger at job losses as ITV mothballs Leeds studios

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Published Date: 04 March 2009
VIEWERS will "switch off" in their droves after TV bosses announced plans to shut its Leeds studio with the loss of up to 400 jobs, an MP has warned.
Hit show Countdown will be moved out of the city as part of a sweep of cost-cutting measures.

Emmerdale and Calendar News will be the only survivors after ITV bosses wielded the axe and announced it will mothball the Kirkstall Road studios.

Civic leaders said it was a "huge blow" and a "sad day" for the city and are desperately trying to launch a bid to save the studio from the cull.

Leeds West MP John Battle said the move could set a worrying trend of replacing "real location dramas" with "cheap reality TV" which would lead to viewers turning off.

ITV said it planned to lose 15 per cent of its workforce - 600 jobs nationally - and announced that in Yorkshire the figure would be 150.

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However, unions said last night they had been told 192 staff jobs would go - and said they expected that to be matched by a similar number of freelance staff.

The new-look Countdown with Sky TV's Jeff Stelling at the helm, will be moved to Manchester.

Other dramas produced in Yorkshire - Heartbeat and The Royal - have enough episodes on the shelf to last two years, with no indication of when filming might resume.

Former Calendar presenter Austin Mitchell, now Great Grimsby MP, has suggested regeneration organisation Yorkshire Forward takes over the building and makes it available to ITV, the BBC and independent producers.

Leeds City Council leader Andrew Carter said: "This is a sad day for Leeds and Yorkshire as a whole. Our city has a long association with the production and broadcast of high-quality programmes."

He said the announcement demonstrated the "massive effect" the recession was having, and added: "The council will do what it can to help staff find employment and support the continuation of ITV in Leeds."

ITV insists the efficiency savings, £155m this year rising to £245m by 2011, are necessary to counteract a decline in advertising.

Speaking last night, MP John Battle said: "I believe this is a short-term option which will result ultimately in more people just switching off."

Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland has written to ITV executive chairman Michael Grade asking him to reconsider the cuts.

ITV has reported pre-tax losses of £2.73bn after writing down the value of assets.

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  • Last Updated: 05 March 2009 8:52 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Leeds
 
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M Carter,

Leeds 05/03/2009 10:58:17
So as usual all the politicians jump on the bandwagon, wringing their hands, expressing their horror - and then promising to spend yet more money they don't have to try and prop up an economy that is overwhelmed with debt and exhausted trying to fund an unproductive public sector, with its unaffordable salaries and pensions bill.

As far as YTV is concerned, take a look at rail fares from London to Leeds now, (not that MPs or Councillors will worry, since they will get their 1st class tickets paid for by us, anyway). The fares are insane since NXEC took over and decided to rip every penny it could out of travellers. If I were Michael Grade, I'd shut the Leeds studios too rather than carry on paying out astronomical travel expenses on the East Coast Rail Line.

Then there's the airport. No rail-link, unlike Manchester. For lots of people in Leeds, it's quicker to get to Manchester than to Yeadon, and with less chance of getting 'snapped' by the hundreds of speed cameras that continue to get put up on every bit of road in Leeds. (They really are desperate for money, aren't they?)

Then there is the cost of doing business in Leeds, with horrendous business rates bills, residential property prices off the scale and unaffordable Council Tax, and a City Council that wants to keep on empire building. Next it's a £12m Arena. And then a 'Director of Theatres'. No doubt that will mean even more Council staff earning more than £50,000 a year to add to the 500+ already bleeding us dry. How much do they think skilled people in wealth-creating industries earn?

Come on Andrew Carter, get a grip. The longer you go on with the socialist 'tax and spend' philosophy, the bigger the crash when the taxpayers finally can't support it any longer. Your local economy will end up looking like Ireland's - a collapsed finance and construction boom and the productive businesses all moved elsewhere.
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Henry Harvey,

Chippenham 05/03/2009 12:04:03
No surprise then that Leeds will be hardest hit with closure of the ITV studios. As usual Manchester will be the chief beneficiary; but then Leeds is not one of the highly favoured cities and is being systematically sidelined. Wake up Leeds Council and MPs, no one outside Yorkshire knows anything about Leeds and cares less. The boom has now bust but it looks as though the City leaders are still complacent that it's position in the national league will be maintained automatically without much effort on their part if and when things start to get better. Airport links, especially to London, and a first class rail service are essential. Leeds must be the only City in the UK without an Arena which is a big loss of face and a sure mark of inferiority. Leeds' claim to be an outstanding shopping venue is also rather out of date- other places have caught up and shopping in Leeds now is only average. Above all it needs a premiership football club without which a city's image is deeply affected. Thank goodness for the Rhinos and the Carnegie outfits, and Opera North and other artistic music and theatre activities still keeping the flag flying for Leeds and to some extent in the public eye.
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R.S.,

Leeds 05/03/2009 13:37:11
I think we have to face facts that the gap between Manchester and Leeds is continuing to grow, and Manchester is becoming more and more attractive at the cost of Leeds. The frugal 'do nothing brigade' as expressed in the first comment above doesn't help, you need to crack eggs to make omlettes, so the council's commitment to bring an arena to Leeds is essential if our city isn't to slide further and further behind, overshadowed by our far more ambitious neighbour.
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M Carter,

Leeds 05/03/2009 14:15:01
Far from being part of a 'do nothing' brigade, I would welcome spending on sensible infrastructure projects that will attract investment, but at the same time urgently lowering the public sector liabilities that will drive more wealth-creating businesses away.

It's too late to start spending on 'vanity' projects like Arenas and luxury things - where's the money coming from? How is an Arena "essential", for goodness sake?

Incidentally, the theatres in Manchester are in private sector hands, not run by the Council. Maybe a lesson or two to be learned there?

The problem with the governments (local and national) spending more and more money that they haven't got, and then printing it when they can't borrow any more, is that sooner or later the economy collapses (as we're now seeing, with the collapse of private firms).
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Gibbon,

Leeds 06/03/2009 14:56:01
M Carter, do you even know what you're talking about?

'Horrendous cost of doing business in Leeds' - business rates are the SAME across the country (hence why they are referred to as the UNIFORM BUSINESS RATE). Council tax has also been below the average rate, at just 2.9%. Yes the East Coast Mainline is overprice, but so is the Cross Country service between London and Manchester.

And does the city 'need' an arena? I'd say it does. Judging by your outbursts, you may like see ideal cities as mere collections of private sector enterprises under some Thatcherist model, but Leeds is the largest city in the entire country without an arena, meaning over a million people from West Yorkshire have to go to Sheffield or Manchester if they want to see a big production. Public support is overwhelmingly behind an arena - public opinion doesn't consist solely of YOUR opinion.
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M Carter,

Leeds 06/03/2009 15:31:30
Gibbon - clearly you don't know what you are talking about.

What kind of business do you run in Leeds? (A fiver says you don't).

Well done for spotting that business rates are wrecking businesses all over the UK - that's why so many town centre shops are empty or run as charity shops.

When was the last time you used Cross Country between London and Manchester? (clue: Cross Country doesn't run between London and Manchester)

What's the population of Leeds? (clue: a lot less than 1 million). Leeds is not 'West Yorkshire'. But no matter, the point is that the private sector operators were more than prepared to build an Arena on two very good sites in Leeds - it didn't need more Council 'tax and spend' policies.

Thanks for the 'Thatcherite' comment - now we know exactly where you're coming from - you think money grows on trees. Boy, have you got a shock coming.
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