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BBC free seeds branded waste of licence fee

The BBC has hit back at claims it wasted £150,000 of licence fee-payers’ money by giving away vegetable seeds and trees in 2009. Its generosity has been branded a waste of money by the TaxPayers Alliance, a campaign group for lower taxes and better government. It argues that dishing out free seeds is not an appropriate use of the BBC licence fee – which currently costs £142.50 per year for a colour set.

This summer, the BBC spent £57,500 giving away 250,000 packets of vegetable seeds at 23pence a pack as part of its Dig In campaign, which featured strongly on BBC Gardeners’ World. The Beeb recently handed out 300,000 trees at a cost of £96,000 (32pence per sapling). It was part of an attempt last month to set a new world record by planting 653,143 trees at numerous sites in just one hour, intended to mark National Tree Week TaxPayers Alliance campaign director Mark Wallace told AG: “These BBC initiatives may have been well intentioned but it’s straying away from its remit as a broadcaster. The BBC is claiming to be strapped for cash at the moment but it is wasting licence fee-payers’ money on activities that are unnecessary and non-essential.”

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But a spokesman for the BBC, which has been under fire for paying its 106 senior managers combined salaries of £21.2million, insisted the £153,500 spent on the Dig In and tree-planting campaigns was worthwhile. The spokesman said: “For 80 years, the promotion of education and learning has been a core part of the BBC's public purpose. We have always offered a range of resources and activities for children, teachers, parents and adult learners and this venture is a popular and highly successful example of this activity.”

The BBC insisted that local authorities and environmental organisations’ tree give-away schemes have been running successfully for many years. Its statement added: “However, many of these schemes are only open to residents of the local authority in which they take place. The BBC has decided to provide a limited number of free trees to ensure that there is an opportunity for as many members of the public to participate at home as possible.

“The aim is to encourage mass public participation in this learning opportunity and is part of BBC Learning’s remit. The BBC is also working with over 11,000 schools. A range of curriculum based resources this autumn were themed around trees, and schools are being encouraged to take part in this mass planting event along with other community groups.”


* News article supplied by Amateur Gardening Magazine