Local journalists are set to undertake fresh strike action in a blow to coverage of Parliamentary by-elections.

National Union of Journalists members working for the BBC in England will walk out for a third time in protests at planned cuts to local radio.

The NUJ is in dispute with the BBC over plans to cut local radio output by almost half making presenters redundant, cancelling shows and forcing local stations to share content across larger regional areas.

The fresh action, which will take place from 11am on 20 July to 11am the following day, coinciding with the by-elections in Somerton and Frome, Selby and Ainsty and Uxbridge and South Ruislip sparked by recent Tory resignations.

The latest follows a 48-hour strike last month and a 24-hour stoppage in March. The strike will involve journalists working in local radio, regional TV and online.

The dispute began in October after the BBC announced the proposed loss of 139 radio roles, with all existing radio staff having to reapply for their own jobs, and a concurrent investment in local digital journalism to create 131 new jobs.

BBC staff on the picket line during recent strike action

The union’s announcement comes just days after a coordinated attack by the regional press industry on the BBC’s proposals.

In a plea issued in regional titles across the country on Monday, press trade body the News Media Association called on the BBC to ‘Be A Better Neighbour’ to its local competitors and to step back from the plans, which they claim will harm commercial publishers.

But in a fresh rebuttal of the plans issued today, BBC director of nations Rhodri Talfan Davies accused the NMA of “misreporting” its role in local journalism.

He wrote in a blog post: “The accusation by some commercial publishers is that our plans to strengthen our own local journalism by investing in new online and investigative reporter posts could jeopardise the sustainability of other local news providers. This criticism of the BBC is both misplaced and misleading.

“First, there is no evidence the BBC ‘crowds out’ local competition through its online activity. In fact, successive studies and reviews over the last decade show it’s the internet – not the BBC – that has radically challenged the business models of local news operators across the world.

“Second, the media regulator Ofcom has reviewed the BBC’s local online plans and determined that they are unlikely to have a significant impact on other local providers. In fact, Ofcom concluded that our plans to strengthen BBC local news provision across 43 areas in England are unlikely to impact more than 0.5-1pc of existing local media revenues.”

Rhodri added: “The truth is that the BBC has always recognised it has a unique responsibility to support our partners in the local community and – like all good neighbours – we are committed to deepening that collaboration in the years to come.

“But that won’t deter us from setting the record straight when our role in local journalism is misreported.”

Commenting on the latest strike plans, NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “The union continues to talk to BBC management and we have made it consistently clear that there are alternative ways for the BBC to achieve its ambitions on Digital First – ones that do not come at the cost of local radio; that preserve jobs and livelihoods; do not worsen current working patterns for staff across BBC Local; and protect genuinely local services.

“There are 5.4m loyal local BBC listeners who treasure the service local radio provides and tune into linear radio.”

A BBC spokesperson said in response: “We understand this is a difficult period of change for many colleagues and we will continue to support everyone affected by the plans to strengthen our local online services across news and audio.

“Our goal is to deliver a local service across TV, radio and online that offers more value to more people in more local communities.”