A KENT-based BBC boss who clashed with veteran television presenter Laurie Mayer is moving on.

Laura Ellis, head of programmes for the South East for the past four and a half years, is leaving the Tunbridge Wells studios next month.

She is to become Chief Assistant to Andy Griffee, BBC Controller of English Regions, based in Birmingham.

Leo Devine, former head of regional and local programmes with BBC South West, is taking over from Mrs Ellis.

Mrs Ellis, who lives in Kent, moved from Birmingham in 1999 to set up the new studios in Tunbridge Wells.

The challenging job involved moving BBC Radio Kent from Sun Pier, Chatham, starting a new hi-tech television studio operation from scratch, and creating the flagship news programme South East Today.

Former director-general Greg Dyke praised her achievement when he officially opened the new studios.

But not everything went smoothly. There were problems with the complex equipment and the launch of the new television service was put back until September 2001.

More seriously for Mrs Ellis, Laurie Mayer, then a presenter of South East Today, complained about an alleged “climate of fear” in the newsroom.

He walked out of the studio on June 26, 2002, just 10 minutes before he was due to go on air. Later he claimed at a widely publicised tribunal in Ashford that heard his case for unfair dismissal - which he lost - that he “felt shattered and completely undermined” when Mrs Ellis blamed him for “terrible” viewing figures.

But Mrs Ellis told the tribunal that the decision not to renew Mr Mayer’s contract was purely because he was not committed enough to regional news.

It was made “for proper editorial reasons, and was nothing to do with suggestions that he said that staff were being bullied," she said.

Mrs Ellis is the last of three senior television chiefs singled out for criticism by Mr Mayer to leave the Tunbridge Wells operation.

The others were editors Rod Beards and his fiancee Davina Reynolds, who have both moved on to other posts in the Corporation. All three had previously worked together at BBC Birmingham.

After the BBC confirmed her new appointment, Mrs Ellis said: "I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in the South East.

“Setting up a new region is one of life's ultimate challenges and it has been a wonderful four years and an honour and a privilege to work with the team in Tunbridge Wells."

Meanwhile, Mr Mayer, supported by the National Union of Journalists, is appealing against the tribunal decision to reject his claim for unfair dismissal.