‘Huge disappointment’ as Birmingham misses out on Channel 4 bid
Birmingham has missed out in the battle to become the home of Channel 4’s new national headquarters, a decision which the Mayor of the West Midlands called a “huge disappointment”.
The broadcaster announced it has picked Leeds over the second city and Greater Manchester, which was also on the shortlist.
Channel 4 will move around 200 staff to Leeds while also opening creative hubs in Bristol and Glasgow, employing around 50 staff in each.
Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, said that while the news was a “huge disappointment”, he stressed that the work that went into the bid “has not been wasted”.
“As we progressed through the bid process we saw a growing sense of collaboration and commitment across the region between local authorities, organisations and our creative industries. This has led to a number of developments set to improve the creative landscape regardless of Channel 4’s decision, which will be announced in the coming weeks,” he said.
“Through our Local Industrial Strategy, we remain committed to ensuring we are home to a pre-eminent national creative & media cluster, and we will respond to high demand for production by investing in the TV and film production capacity of the region by establishing new studio and production facilities.
“Finally, I’d like to thank all those who were involved the bid for their hard work, the West Midlands region came together as part of this process and now we look to the future as one, as commit to delivering initiatives and funding that will transform our creative industries.”
Cllr Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “The decision by Channel 4 to not award the national HQ to the city is a major disappointment to all of those who have worked so hard to bring the broadcaster to Birmingham.
“Birmingham would have been an ideal location for Channel 4, with a wealth of knowledge and creativity, talent and energy combined with one of the youngest and most diverse populations in Europe, in a region that is undergoing an economic resurgence.
“While we may not have been successful with our bid for Channel 4, we continue to be successful as city reinventing itself for the 21st century. We have the infrastructure, the people and the ambition needed to drive this city forward and I’m confident we will see many more successes in Birmingham in 2019.”
The WMCA said its bid highlighted the many strengths of the West Midlands under the strapline of ‘Get Closer’, including the region’s connections to talent, ideas and resources, and the ongoing success and development the region is experiencing such as Coventry being named UK City of Culture 2021, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.
