THE British Film Institute has been accused of “sticking two fingers up at Bradford” by unveiling plans for a new £130m national centre for film, TV and the moving image in the capital.

Senior councillor Simon Cooke reacted angrily to the plans, in the light of recent threats to the National Media Museum and a controversial decision by the Science Museum Group to transfer one of its world-renowned collections to London.

The BFI’s plans, unveiled this week, are for a new International Centre for Film, TV and the Moving Image on London’s South Bank.

It will contain a state-of-the-art education and research centre, a major gallery space to present exhibitions of international scale, displays showing the earliest experiments in moving images, from a giant zoetrope and new camera obscura to the latest holographic and virtual reality storytelling, and three cinemas offering a “technologically perfect” environment to screen every format of film.

It is being bankrolled in part by a mystery donor’s £87m offer, and is being championed by high-profile film stars including Helen Mirren and Idris Elba.

Councillor Cooke, leader of Bradford Council’s Conservative group, said: “I must admit, I sort-of invited Idris Elba to visit Bradford on Twitter and said that I would show him round and introduce him to the museum.”

Cllr Cooke asked why yet another new cultural institution was being planned for London.

He said: “Whatever the BFI say, they are basically just sticking two fingers up at Bradford. I’m really disappointed, given where we have been.”

But the BFI has stressed its commitment to Bradford as a Unesco City of Film, as well as the Media Museum.

A spokesman said the BFI had been in its current centre since 1951 and had “frankly, outgrown it”.

She said the planned new centre was not meant to be a rival to the Media Museum, saying: “It’s not a museum, it’s a very different proposal.”

She said the organisation recognised Bradford’s importance as a City of Film and supported it in various ways, such as supplying funding for the National Media Museum’s Widescreen Weekends. She said: “We love Yorkshire and we love Bradford.”

The Media Museum also downplayed any potential threat.

A spokesman said the Media Museum’s collection had “always differed from and coexisted with the BFI’s archive of British films, television programmes and other items”.

He added: “The BFI does a fantastic job of celebrating and promoting British film, and these are longstanding plans for a new centre in the Southbank. We look forward to continuing our relationship, which includes funding for Widescreen Weekend and the Museum being home to a BFI Mediatheque.”

And David Wilson, director of Bradford City of Film, said he did not see the BFI’s development as a threat to what Bradford offered.