Opinion CHAMBER LINK
The Official Publication of Greater Birmingham Chambers of commerce
Editor’s View
By John Lamb
Broadcasting the case for C4’s move to Brum
Sutton Coldfield
Chamber of Commerce
Greater Birmingham
Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce
Channel 4 have discovered Birmingham. It only amounted to one of their reporters passing through the city but it shows they have ventured north of Watford. He was in our parish covering the Carillion
story but he would not be drawn on whether he is happy with the proposal to move C4 operations to Birmingham, following in the steps of HSBC and Deutsche Bank. The Government has said it wants C4 to leave
its current base in Westminster but the channel’s managers insist it should stay where it is. A decision is promised for early this year but as Chamberlink went to bed, talks were still continuing.
Front cover: Paul Faulkner (left) and Keith Stoke- Smith at the Alexander Stadium to mark the birth of the Greater Birmingham Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce and the awarding of the 2022 Commonwealth Games to the city. See pages 6 & 7.
Editor John Lamb 0121 607 1781, 0797 1144064
j.lamb@
birmingham-chamber.com
Deputy Editor Dan Harrison 0121 607 1887, 0797 1144052
d.harrison@birmingham-chamber.com
You can now read the latest issue of CHAMBERLINK and view back issues online at:
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‘There was, and still is, a great suspicion that anything of a cultural nature can survive in the frozen north’
The broadcaster claims it would be “highly damaging” and other detractors claim the move would affect its ability to attract talent, weaken its finances in a deteriorating advertising market and incur huge redundancy and relocation bills. So they’re not keen then. The BBC had the
same anxieties about moving to Salford in Manchester but after initial gnashing of teeth they have bravely moved. There has been talk of a compromise – some
Published by
people call it a fudge – where SOME of C4’s operations would move to Birmingham. But
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4 CHAMBERLINK February 2018
West Midlands’ mayor Andy Street rightly insists on a full relocation. Other parts of the country have reportedly
submitted proposals for a partial relocation, apparently in the belief that this has more chance of being accepted by Channel 4 bosses. They include Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield, Stafford, Stoke and York. And while discussions continue between the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the board of Channel 4, hope springs eternal. So Birmingham has some considerable wooing
to do to win the affections of C4 personnel. We have to convince them that there is life north of Watford. After many years working in London, I can confirm there was, and still is, a great suspicion that anything of a cultural nature can survive in the frozen north, which in many eyes down there includes the Midlands. However, we know that there is a huge and
growing cultural sector here in terms of businesses, like those at Innovation Birmingham and the Custard Factory, and education, with most universities heavily involved in the sector. The opening of the magnificent Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is just one project which bears testimony to that. So our message to Channel 4 is wake up and
smell the coffee – there is life outside the M25. And if you would like to support the campaign, go to #wmgeneration
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