They were already less local, now it turns out BBC Local radio is less ‘live’ too. What’s going on?

The BBC has dropped live local news bulletins from dozens of radio stations around the country — and rejected plans to reinstate them.

Since last year, truly local radio on the many of the Corporation’s 39 stations have been limited to broadcasts between 6am and 2pm during the week, with shows outside of these hours often covering large swathes of the country.

The BBC did this so it could divert cash into its online news operations, a move local publishers, who have been building digital businesses for a decade or so, say could drive them out of business, even though the Beeb is covering far fewer stories than they do.

In defending itself from claims it is dismantling local radio, bosses have been at pains to stress that local news bulletins remain local to each radio station even when they are sharing syndicated programmes. The coverage of syndicated programmes ranges from neighbouring stations sharing a show through to the whole of England receiving one ‘BBC local’ show broadcast from Salford.

But it has now emerged that many of these bulletins are pre-recorded from neighbouring stations, limiting the ability of journalists to cover breaking news, and raising fresh questions over how local local radio is now.

Details emerged as the National Union of Journalists said it would be raising the issue with new culture secretary Lisa Nandy, after BBC England bosses said a pilot project to give all local radio stations their own live news bulletins all day had been scrapped.

According to Press Gazette, staff in the North East and North West were told a pilot which would have enabled each of their stations to keep their own live news bulletins has ended and will see them revert to the same sharing model as other regions of England.

Press Gazette said 22 out of 39 local radio stations now share newsreaders in pairs, with news bulletins being pre-recorded for the ‘non live’ station up to 20 minutes before it’s due to go out.

Listeners in Cornwall, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Three Counties (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire), Oxford, Shropshire, Leicester, Gloucestershire and Humberside are those most regularly getting pre-recorded news bulletins.

As a result of the BBC ending the trial in the North of England, listeners in Cumbria and Teesside will now also get pre-recorded news.

At weekends, all local stations produce their own local news bulletins, although nearly all shows are now syndicated across multiple stations.

The pilot had involved journalists combining news reading with writing content for online — something the BBC is keen to do more of to maintain its local relevance, but which also means it is competing directly with commercial publishers for the first time.

An estimated £500,000 would have had to be spent to ensure all stations were to have truly live, truly local news bulletins every hour, Press Gazette said.

The NUJ said: “We will will continue to campaign and make the case — both within and outside the BBC — for live and local content, including news bulletins and local radio programming to serve the needs of audiences in communities across the country.

“We will be making our case to the new Labour government for proper funding of local news across the BBC that reverses the damaging cuts that have been wrought and secures investment across all platforms for the future.”

On Twitter, the BBC’s NUJ group said members would be meeting shortly to decide next steps.

The BBC has been under intense scrutiny over both its decisions to take an axe to BBC local radio services, and the reinvestment in text-and-pictures online journalism. It says that is where local audiences are — local publishers say the BBC is competing unfairly with them, using the licence fee to underwrite ad-free local journalism and cherry-picking the stories readers most want to read, putting independent journalism at risk in the process.

It has also faced criticism for ignoring criticism — from unions, politicians, publishers and staff the Corporation. The architect of the audio changes at the Beeb, Chris Burns, went so far as to try and recharacterise anger at her plans and they way had been implemented as a sign of how ‘passionate’ people were about local radio.

Listeners, it seems, have been making their views clear via their listening habits, with listening figures down 10%. The BBC argues it has seen online readership grow, however. Publishers say independent data shows this has been at the expense of readership

This week, Ofcom indicated for the first time it was taking the concerns of publishers seriously in a review of the local media eco system.

The BBC has also been using some of the money saved from reducing local radio output to invest in local investigative journalism, such as a series of podcasts presented by former Hollyoaks and Coronation Street actor Will Mellor about the Post Office Scandal. Mellor was one of the actors in the acclaimed ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

MPs of all political colours have savaged the BBC’s approach. Last year, a debate in Parliament urged ‘fewer Gary Linekers and more local journalists’ while the Corporation has been regularly accused of abandoning older listeners.

In April, senior BBC officials were accused by the Public Accounts committee of trying ‘brush bad news under the carpet’ about the impact of cuts on local radio.

A BBC spokesman told Press Gazette: “The BBC has to continue improving its efficiency, and make choices about how and where we allocate our resources to ensure value for money for all licence fee payers.”