MARK Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, supports keeping open threatened TV’s BBC Oxford, The Oxford Mail has been told.

Mr Thompson, who lives in the city, visited the programme’s Banbury Road, Oxford offices on Friday to speak to staff about cost cutting proposals that could see the county lose its dedicated news bulletins.

Staff fear this could see production moved to Southampton, with the loss of 20 jobs. There has also been nationwide speculation that daytime BBC local radio will broadcast BBC Radio 5 Live.

But one staff member, who asked not to be named, said: “The director general said that he believed that the Oxford service should be retained. He stayed for more than an hour and it was a positive meeting.

“However, Mr Thompson was not able to offer us the assurance that this proposal is yet fully off the table. We are unlikely to know that before July. So our campaign will continue.

“As far as BBC radio is concerned, he said there were no plans to shut it down or merge the station.”