Dear Editor, The Birmingham City Plan has been published and it is a disgrace.
Those drafting it have failed to realise that the city is a business.
Businesses fail unless they advertise in subtle ways. The Americans use the film and TV industries to advertise themselves and give the impression that the American Dream is what we all aspire to.
Naïve Birmingham City Council has failed to grasp this fact. The BBC broadcasts two national programmes from Birmingham but neither are set in the city, nor advertise the city.
ITV, which used to broadcast a huge number of networked programmes from Birmingham, now only does quick local news for local consumption.
Birmingham has vanished from screens nationwide. It was rumoured the council had discussed buying and bringing Channel Four to Birmingham, but baulked at the cost of bringing so many people from London.
Birmingham City Council should create a community interest company to take over the Central England ITV franchise and broadcast quality regional programmes.
This would make money, create jobs, bring the positive qualities of the area to a wider public and enable the city to prosper.
Present policies are to demolish the only suitable TV studios and build more needless luxury shops, flats and restaurants.
Those luxury developments that have already been built have rapidly gone down-market and have not been the financial success intended.
Those who want this sort of luxury will go and live in Saint-Tropez, Monaco or Geneva. A tower block by Gas Street Basin does not have the same appeal. The planned media jobs will never come until a company is set up to create them. Screen productions need facilities yet the Big City Plan shows none.
How can you have the jobs without the facilities?
There are already far too many people seeking the few media/TV/film jobs that exist.
Abysmal Screen West Midlands has overseen the number of jobs decline as broadcasters have dis-invested in the city and moved elsewhere.
The city council must get real and get the jobs created or the city is doomed to marginalisation, stagnation and decline.
The BBC will keep cutting back in the city unless there is serious competition which is presently sadly lacking.
John West
Redditch
