A British baking enthusiast is taking on the BBC over its plans to scrap the BBC Food website.

Emma Barrington, from London, who runs popular cookware site Baker and Maker, started her petition on Change.org to save the 11,000 recipe archive from being removed under BBC plans – which has since gone viral.

She said: “It seems like a totally pointless and unfair intervention by the Government to impose this on the BBC under the vague directive of providing ‘distinct content’. 

The BBC Food recipes are to be removed as part of plans to slash the corporation’s budget

“They are wasting time on removing our recipes when there are bigger problems to worry about.

“The BBC Food website is free, independent and British. It seems silly to not just leave the archive on there.

I use the website regularly, often without realising it – it’s the first thing that comes up when you look online for recipes. It’s so easy and accessible — whether you’re a housewife or a foodie, it’s a staple for all kinds of people. 

“My daughter, who’s 12, uses it all the time. We have lots of recipe books at home but it’s easier to look online. It feels like going backwards to have created this amazing resource and then just take it down.”

Bake-off? Emma, a regular user of the BBC recipes website described it as a “totally pointless and unfair move”

The petition started to grow at record speed on the morning of Tuesday May 17 with #BBCRecipes trending on Twitter.

For more  about this campaign, go to Change.org/bbcrecipes or email press.uk@change.org.

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