ITV has been accused of ignoring the views of Plymouth

people after chairman Michael Grade said the channel could be

forced to give up public service broadcasting because it costs

too much.

Ninety jobs at the ITV studios in Plympton are at risk as

the independent broadcaster seeks to cut £40 million off its

budget for news gathering.

"ITV Westcountry's news is an essential part of TV in the

South West," Luke Pollard, the Labour prospective parliamentary

candidate for South West Devon, said yesterday.

"It is disappointing that instead of looking at investing in

these flagship programmes Mr Grade further alludes to closing

local TV studios like ITV Westcountry in Plympton.

"His comments on the BBC again signal his intention to

ignore local people's views and radically scale back local TV

News.

"At a time when profits are falling it seems curious to

scale back some of their most popular news programmes.

"Public service broadcasting should not be an optional extra

for ITV, especially when it means coverage for Devon and

Cornwall made in Bristol and the loss of 90 jobs in

Plympton.

"ITV should come clean with their proposals for regional TV

rather than leaving a question mark hanging over ITV in

Plympton in order to give those who support Westcountry TV

ability to scrutinise their thinking and make the case for why

local TV is best delivered locally."

Mr Grade hit out at "a whole host of nanny state regulation"

which would be swept away if ITV renounced its status as a

public service broadcaster (PSB).

"I think we have a future as a public service broadcaster

provided that we can get Ofcom and the Government to realise

very, very quickly that we cannot afford to pay more than the

licence and the PSB status is worth," he said.

"Ofcom estimates that to be around £45 million a year. It's

presently costing us over £220 million a year."

He added: "It's not a threat, it's a realistic scenario,

which Ofcom itself has proposed."