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This is taken from Ariel, w/c 13/02/06:
B&B FOR WOOD NORTON TRAINEES by Clare Bolt
Trainees at Wood Norton have been moved into hotels and B&Bs in response to a notice from the owners of the conference centre that it would no longer provide accommodation for the BBC. The corporation was told the arrangement would end on January 31, with the closure of the conference centre, which includes the accommodation block. The BBC also received formal notification that its training studios and classrooms would be disconnected from a sewage plant, located on land belonging to the hall and conference centre.
Although the conference centre is still open, the sewage facilities remain under threat. 'There's a common sewage plant which serves training, which the BBC has a right to use,' lecturer Kevin Doig explains. 'We have no control of it because it's not on our land, and if the power to the plant is cut there are implications [there is a risk of a fine for the BBC if tanks are contaminated or overflow with waste water].'
The BBC has closed all the toilets on site and hired portable loos. The restaurant has scaled back its operation, from serving three meals a day to offering only a lunch service on just three days a week. Trainees will continue to be booked into hotels until further notice.
Course administration manager Anne Harwood and her team are doing 'a sterling job', says senior trainer Andy Woodhouse. Between March 14-17 - when hotels are full with Cheltenham Festival racegoers - BBC courses have been rearranged or postponed. At this time of year around 50 people a week arrive at Wood Norton for training, with some 30 rooms a night needed to accommodate them.
Doig blames the current difficulties on the BBC's decision to sell the residential block and sewage plant in 2002. They were sold to an overseas buyer. 'It must have crossed people's minds that if we don't have accommodation, and sewage is a problem on site, the longevity of training and development at Wood Norton is an issue,' he says. 'But against that, there's the cost of moving us, which would run into millions.'
BBC property is working on a number of long-term strategies aimed at making the site more self sufficient. Meanwhile, from a training point of view, the BBC says it is 'business as usual'. 'We had contingency plans in place - providing alternative accommodation and portable loos - and swung into action quickly,' it says.
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