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The has been accused of ‘adding insult to injury’ over plans to move its Asian Network’s Bobby Friction drivetime radio show from Birmingham to London.

Broadcasting union BECTU has hit out angrily over the move, with the show one of three made in the city for the corporation’s Asian network.

The news comes days after Tommy Nagra, brought in to oversee job creation in Birmingham, announced he was . The Midlands remains the º£½ÇÊÓƵ region receiving the least º£½ÇÊÓƵ investment, despite having the highest net spend on the BBC, .

BECTU is calling on its members and the public to support the campaign against the move, which they say comes three years after the BBC moved nearly all its television production work out of Birmingham to either Bristol or Salford.

Assistant general secretary Luke Crawley said: “The BBC needs to address a serious imbalance. Licence fee payers in the Midlands contribute more than £900 million a year to the BBC’s income yet the BBC only spends £100 million in the region out of a total income of more than £4 billion. This latest proposal only adds insult to injury.

“We will be campaigning against it as we believe the Asian community in the Midlands do not want this move to go ahead.”

BECTU claims the BBC has said the move is necessary to “even out” production between London and Birmingham. The BBC has said it is moving its Training and Human Resources departments to Birmingham but BECTU says any new jobs will not replace programme makers and production departments who have left.

“Increasingly, young people growing up in the Midlands who want to work in the media have to move to Salford, Bristol or London; these latest plans threaten to make the choices for young people even more difficult,” said Luke Crawley.

A BBC spokesman said: “BBC Birmingham remains the key production base for BBC Asian Network as it is home to its biggest staff base and the music and events team. Daily weekday programmes Noreen Khan and Ray Khan, as well as some weekend programmes, continue to broadcast from The Mailbox.

“The BBC continues to be fully committed to Birmingham with 200 roles moving to The Mailbox this year as it becomes the corporation’s new home for skills, talent and recruitment.”