Wayne Garvie makes a strong case against Channel 4 moving to Birmingham or Leeds (Letters, 29 October). Unfortunately, it’s also the strong argument for never moving anything out of London. In fact, it was the argument used against the BBC’s move to Salford Quays. The BBC didn’t move to Salford to take advantage of an existing hub; the hub has grown up around the BBC.
He also doesn’t draw attention to the major downside of Salford. Rather than opening up opportunities for other northern cities (let alone the rest of the country), it has delivered a mini-me metropolitan bubble on the Irwell. If he wants evidence of this, he needs only to look at BBC Breakfast or You and Yours, whose producers seem unable to find their way out of Deansgate when they need a vox pop and whose contact lists seem to consist almost entirely of experts who work in and around Manchester.
Relocating Channel 4 is an issue of public policy on economic and cultural development and doesn’t need to be restricted by existing media structures preferring to gaze at their own reflection.
Gerry McMulllan
Birmingham
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