FIVE jobs are set to go at BBC Radio York as part of a national drive to save money.

The BBC says that the local radio station needs to save £215,000 over the next two to three years, leaving to the loss of the equivalent of 5.4 posts. The station currently employs 45 people.

Across BBC Yorkshire, savings of £800,000 are needed, with the total jobs reduction expected to be 27. BBC TV's flagship news programme, Look North, will have to save £390,000, while Radio Leeds will need to make savings of £141,000 and Radio Sheffield must save £60,000.

Asked why Radio York's savings were greater than either Leeds' or Sheffield's, a spokeswoman said it was because an analysis last year had indicated that it was one of the five most expensive local radio stations in the country.

A spokesman for the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) at Radio York, Colin Hazelden, said that union members and members of another union, BECTU, would be meeting today to discuss their response to the news, with a national meeting of union representatives tomorrow.

He said the NUJ opposed any compulsory redundancies. The BBC spokeswoman said its policy was to seek redundancies by voluntary means if possible.

Mr Hazelden said the announcement was not a complete surprise, although he was surprised by the difference between York's savings and the figure for some other local radio stations.

He was "surprised and angry" at the speed with which the station was being asked to make the cuts.

Nationally, savings of £221 million a year in content and output were announced yesterday by BBC Director General Mark Thompson who said the money would be reinvested back into programmes.

Mr Thompson told staff: "This is all money we plan to spend on programmes and content, both to improve the services we deliver to audiences right now and to build strong BBC services in the future.

"All divisions are now finding ways of achieving these savings through genuine improvements rather than crude cuts.

"We are going through the toughest period any of us can remember.

"It's a difficult and painful process, but necessary.

"We need to free up money to start investing in our digital future, to end our current Charter in December 2006 on budget and to show we are serious about providing value for money."

Updated: 10:04 Tuesday, March 22, 2005