The BBC has announced an expanded leadership role in Salford as it seeks to move editorial spend and decision-making outside of London as part of its Across the UK strategy.
The biggest change locally will be for the BBC’s current head of Salford and BBC Radio 5 Live controller Heidi Dawson, who will step up to head of the North of England from next month in a move aimed at getting “closer to audiences” and telling “stories that matter, better reflect and represent audiences across the UK, and invest in local creative economies to improve talent development.”
While it could be argued that as head of the BBC’s biggest operational centre outside of London, Prolific North understands that the new role be more of a corporate leadership position than Dawson’s current heavily editorial-focused role as the corporation focuses on “redoubling our efforts, and strengthening our partnerships, particularly in those regions where we believe we have the greatest potential for growth over the coming years.”
The expanded role as Head of the North of England is a leadership position that the BBC says “will help us drive forward our strategy and help coordinate our ambition for growing our impact across the region.”
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Dawson will continue to sit within BBC Content as controller, 5 Live and head of Salford, while also taking on these expanded responsibilities.
The new structure will look to put the regions on a similar footing to the devolved nations, where this work is already being fulfilled by the Beeb’s nations’ directors and their teams. The corporation has now concluded that there needs to be a similar point of contact established for the BBC Group in the North of England, as well as in the West Midlands, where the nations’ chief operating officer, Jason Horton, will lead engagement with stakeholders for the whole of the BBC Group.
Dawson was appointed head of Salford in January 2023, and said at the time: “I’ve worked at our Salford base since it opened in 2011 and it’s still just as exciting to me. There’s a special North West energy, creativity and authenticity that drives the teams here and I am looking forward to seeing how we harness that further to work even better together.”
She has since overseen changes including last year’s News at One Salford move and the 15-minute extension to BBC Breakfast’s daily coverage.
“This is a brilliant opportunity to build on the strong foundations we have already established in Salford and the wider North as well as the West Midlands,” said Kate Phillips, chief content officer. “And demonstrates our commitment and ambition to increase the impact of the BBC across the whole of the UK.”
The BBC added in a statement: “We believe it’s important to have these leadership positions fully embedded into the regions, to strengthen relationships with local communities, political bodies and industry partners.”
