BBC bosses have been accused of inadequate planning for a planned `high risk' £400m move to Salford.

The move to Salford Quays' MediaCity site in 2011, is expected to create 15,000 jobs and give a £200m a year boost to the northwest economy.

But MPs have accused the BBC of not doing enough to manage risky projects like this and others on the organisation's future agenda. They are worried the corporation may fail to get value for money for the licence fee payer.

They raised their fears at a Commons Public Accounts Committee meeting where BBC Director General, Mark Thompson, admitted the plan to move five departments and 1,500 staff to a purpose-built Salford HQ is a high risk. But he insisted they carefully weighed the risks at every stage. Despite Mr Thompson's assurances, Labour's Derek Wyatt feared for staff who may not want to move.

He said: "If they do not want to move you have redundancy. If they do want to move you have to pay for them to relocate. If more people do not want to move you have to start a department all over again. There is quite a lot of risk there."

He said they would also have to link the Salford offices electronically and by satellite with the BBC in London.

Committee chairman, Tory, Edward Leigh, pointed to the recent `phone-in scandals' which overshadowed the BBC, casting doubt on its management techniques.

He said: "The Corporation and its managers at all levels are simply not doing enough to manage and anticipate risks. This point was richly demonstrated in the case of the Blue Peter and other phone-in scandals."

The committee say that the BBC could manage risky schemes better if they gave more information to the government watchdog the National Audit Office, which other bodies funded by the public do.

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