The BBC has been accused of helping destroying a section of fragile coastline on the Isle of Wight, to make the programme "Live from Dinosaur Island". Pneumatic drills and mechanical diggers were used to tear up a protected stretch that was prone to erosion to recreate a dig for dinosaur remains. Hazel Underwood, a fossil hunter for 12 years, who lives near one of the dig sites said:

"To use big machinery against fragile cliffs is crass. People around here are likening it to rape and pillage of the countryside."

The BBC claimed in its defence that the sites had all been reinstated and the work had been approved by English Nature, The National Trust, Crown Estates and the local council!

iGreen comment

A state broadcasting company despoils the environment but says it is OK because the government agencies and those environmental organisations that depend on government for their financing approve it. Would this have happened to a stretch of privately owned coastline.