Meridian TV's controversial move to Whiteley will be questioned in a House of Commons debate tonight.

City MP John Denham has landed an Adjournment Debate when he will tell a government minister of his fears for Southampton's flourishing broadcasting industry in the wake of Meridian's move out of Northam.

A £4.5 billion national merger between TV giants Carlton and Meridian owners Granada to form one country-wide ITV company preceded the decision to leave the city and shed up to 175 staff.

Now Meridian, which has its studios in Northam, is relocating later this year to a £6m hi-tech centre at Solent Business Park in Whiteley, near Fareham.

The move spells the end of a half-century connection with Southampton for Meridian, and its predecessors TVS and Southern.

Mr Denham, who is a former Home Office minister, will tell a culture minister - expected to be either Tessa Jowell or Estelle Morris - the job losses can only lead to fewer local TV programmes.

He also fears the move out of the city will damage Southampton's broadcasting "talent cluster".

He told the Daily Echo: "It is certainly a shame it wasn't possible to find alternative premises for Meridian in the city.

"I am disappointed they are leaving Southampton.

"What happens in broadcasting is that you get clusters of talent, like here with Meridian, the BBC and several production companies.

"If you take out a big chunk of the talent it has to have an impact on the broadcasting industry in Southampton. What I am going to say to the minister is that since its inception, one of the major roles of ITV is to match the BBC and produce quality regional programmes.

"It now looks like there will be less and less quality regional programming on ITV.

"I am worried that we will see a reduction in the number of programmes being made in the south of England."

The job losses were widely crit-icised, with Paul McLaughlin of the National Union of Journalists describing the move as less of a retreat and more of a stampede from ITV's commitments to regional broadcasting.

Mr Denham's Adjournment Debate is scheduled to take place at 7pm and will be screened on the Parliamentary Channel, which is available on cable and satellite TV.