BBC's secret licence fee deal to fund £800m HQ

BBC bosses negotiated a secret deal with the Government to guarantee the future of the licence fee until at least 2033 - so the broadcaster could secure funding for its huge building programme, former director-general Greg Dyke has revealed.

The corporation is defying the recession by spending more than £800 million on a striking new central London headquarters, built of glass and Portland stone, in an ambitious redevelopment of Broadcasting House.

The licence fee is officially due for review in 2012 and the BBC's royal charter expires in 2016.

But Mr Dyke, who masterminded the deal, said the building project was so huge it forced ministers to give secret written assurances that the corporation would be "properly funded" until at least 2033.

The assurances, from then culture secretary Tessa Jowell, allowed the corporation to win a coveted AA credit rating for its unprecedented 30-year bond issue, which raised £813 million for building works, Mr Dyke claimed.

He said: "When we were getting the bond we had to get an assurance from the Secretary of State that the BBC will still be around... and will still be properly funded."

Tory MP Philip Davies accused Ms Jowell of tying future governments' hands, adding: "She was giving an assurance she was not entitled to make. It's a constitutional outrage."

The Department for Culture insisted ministers had not acted "unconstitutionally" but declined to comment further.

The nine-storey Broadcasting House extension, already two years behind schedule and £20 million over budget, will house 4,500 staff, 36 radio studios, six TV studios, two control rooms and 60 editing suites. It will also include the world's largest newsroom, a 43,000 square foot open-plan office the size of half a football pitch.