By Chris Story

Last updated 20:51, Wednesday, 01 October 2008

Border Television’s Durranhill studios will close as 51 jobs are axed from the station’s news operation in Carlisle.

Lookaround presenters Fiona Armstrong )left), Tim Backshall and Helen Pearson

ITV executives yesterday confirmed the devastating impact of a controversial cost-cutting merger that will also stop non-news programmes being made in the city.

They face a severe political backlash against crushing changes, which mark the end of an era in Cumbrian television production.

Durranhill has been home to Border since it first went on air in 1961.

Management say they will be moving to a modern building, more suitable to its needs in Carlisle as part of a new-look service that will kill off nightly news magazine Lookaround as it is known.

Staff, who will now have to apply for the new jobs, were stunned by the scale of losses in the Border region – down from 64 to just 13 employees as part of an ITV bid to save £40m. Nationally, 429 jobs will go.

ITV’s new merged news operation for Border and Tyne Tees will employ 77 people – 57 in Gateshead, 13 in Border and seven on Teesside.

The Border jobs include two Carlisle-based correspondents and cameramen covering major news stories. A reporter will also be based in Carlisle with one in Whitehaven, another in the south Lakes and others in southern Scotland and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. They will be equipped with lightweight cameras and editing equipment.

A 30-day consultation on the redundancies starts tomorrow. Yesterday’s announcement follows broadcasting watchdog Ofcom’s decision to back the Border-Tyne Tees merger. Changes are likely to take effect from early next year.

That means a nightly news programme – called Lookaround in the Border region and North East Tonight elsewhere – being broadcast from Gateshead.

It will have shared content from the vast new region but include a 15-minute opt-out specific to Cumbria, southern Scotland and the Isle of Man. Border will also have its own late-night bulletin.

Opposition against the proposals remains strong and Carlisle City Council leader Mike Mitchelson has arranged for a delegation from his authority to hold talks with the regulator in London.

And despite the anger surrounding the changes – and fears that Border will be swallowed up by north east news – Catherine Houlihan, head of news for the enlarged region, insists the new programme will remain local and relevant to viewers.

On the reaction to the job losses, she said: “I think across the board people have been fairly surprised by the level of cuts – the numbers.

“It has been quite a day in terms of people being given a lot of information, taking it in and thinking ‘how will I fit into this?’ Some are worried. At Tyne Tees and Border all the questions and comments have been dignified, sensible and intelligent. They have been really civilised.”

Ms Houlihan said the new TV news service would be backed up by ITV’s local online operations.

Border’s National Union of Journalists’ spokesman Adam Powell said staff were “angry, disappointed, let down and frustrated” by the merger and losses.

Mr Mitchelson said Border and Ofcom’s decision would “devastate” the current service, adding: “We are also concerned for the loss of jobs in the city. It is the end of Border Television as we know it and bad news for the economy.”

City council Labour group leader Michael Boaden said: “We must not stand idly by and let this happen without ensuring that the proposals are challenged every step of the way.”

Dumfriesshire MP David Mundell also condemned the job losses.

There has also been anger about the decision in the north east, with veteran television anchorman Mike Neville – familiar to Cumbrian viewers from his days with the BBC – describing the decision as “shocking”.

Jobs in Border’s sales division will not be affected by the merger. Ofcom say they backed the merger proposals to ensure ITV could continue to compete in the face of increasing competition.