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For once, the taxi driver doesn't have a strong point of view. "I'd say Manchester, but then again I suppose I might get more fares if they chose Salford," he prevaricates.

The cabbie seems to be the only person in Manchester who has not already decided where the BBC's removal lorries should go if the broadcaster gets its wish to despatch some of its key London departments up North in 2010. At the start of this year the Beeb narrowed down its potential destination to just two options: Quays Point in Salford Quays, a site owned by developer Peel Holdings, and the Central Spine site at the southern edge of the city centre, which is owned by Ask Developments. The fact that one site sits in the upcoming borough of Salford, while the other is in Manchester, council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein's neighbouring territory, has sparked fierce competition between councils, and most Mancunians have a declared allegiance to one or other of the two sites on the shortlist.

Earlier this month each developer submitted its proposals to the BBC. Directly afterwards, Manchester council big guns Bernstein and council leader Richard Leese gave a briefing on the bid they are backing in the august setting of Manchester Town Hall. Salford council and Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company are backing the bid in their borough, albeit with less razzamatazz.

Look at the prize at stake and you can see why the competition is keen. The BBC is negotiating with the government to relocate 1800 London staff working in the departments for children's television and radio, sport, new media and R&D, and the radio stations Five Live and Five Live Sports Extra. These BBC departments have up to 拢400m of direct annual expenditure and production budgets of about 拢200m, and an increasing share of the latter is being spent externally. As well as relocating its own staff, the BBC could generate at least 4000 more jobs down its supply chain and in other allied businesses.

At Manchester council's briefing earlier this month, Leese put the BBC proposal into context, saying: "If this city is to continue its growth path, and achieve the further step change in economic activity we require, the region requires, and the government expects us to deliver, then transformational initiatives like the BBC relocation not only must happen, but should be relocated where the one critical factor is satisfied: and that is where the economic, social and cultural impact of the relocation is maximised."

The honeypot factor

The influx of people and business spending could bring many obvious benefits to the region, says Maurice Gubbins, North West Regional Development Agency area manager for Greater Manchester. It will allow public transport to be improved, raise the skills base of the existing workforce, and discourage people leaving the area for jobs elsewhere from doing so.

The NWDA, the local authorities and the BBC have worked to maximise the potential of the BBC's relocation by making it the heart of a media enterprise zone. Gubbins describes the media enterprise zone as "a physical focus, a honeypot for the sector, that would have things like studios, facilities for the public, opportunities for education, and for research and development, the digital sector, and for networking."

The influx of all these media luvvies looking for suitably stylish places to live could be manna from heaven for developers churning E E out large numbers of apartments in the city centre. The city centre apartment market is still in good health, says Liz Williams, head of new homes at the Manchester office of agent Savills, but that is mainly thanks to demand from investors and renters. She adds: "The owner-occupier market is much slower. New build apartments are now in competition with units being re-sold, so developers are not always getting a premium on new build." The city also has a large quantity of new residential coming onto the market over the next five years, including 1 million ft2 by Ask in the Central Spine area.

Where will BBC staff live?

If all estimated 1800 London BBC employees upped sticks and moved to Manchester, they would in theory fill almost all of a year's housing output in the city, which last year was just over 2000 units. But John Broadbent, head of the Manchester office of agent Knight Frank Residential, cautions: "I would think that only around 50% - and maybe only 25% - of BBC staff would want to be based in the city centre. It is hard to say as the demographics of the people moving are not clear yet. Manchester has a very dense population on the fringe of the city centre - more than 5 million people live there - so there is plenty of choice for people."

Richard Donnell, director of research at property data specialist Hometrack, agrees: "Manchester has a big housing market, so the people moving in will be quite dispersed. It shouldn't lead to a surge in property prices."

The move could, however, aid housing market renewal efforts in the area. Donnell acknowledges that Londoners used to the tenure-blind living of the capital's varied streets are likely to be entirely comfortable with the prospect of living in Manchester's mixed-tenure communities.

Housebuilder Miller Homes is among those hoping to profit. It is applying for planning permission to build a mixed-tenure development of 230 homes on the site of the former Kersal high school in a New Deal for Communities and Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder area in Salford. This will be the first new build project under an NDC programme that will ultimately see Miller and Inspired Developments delivering some 2500 homes.

Mike Lewis, project director of Miller Homes, says: "The first project will be very important to the wider regeneration of Salford. It will help lift the area." For home-hunting Londoners, sales prices of around 拢125,000 to 拢300,000 will compare very favourably with the upmarket areas of south Manchester where a two-bedroom apartment can cost around 拢375,000, points out Lewis.

Across the city in east Manchester there are hopes that ongoing regeneration activity will receive a boost. Here 12,500 units are being provided in such diverse projects as Urban Splash's Will Alsop-designed Chips apartment scheme, and the PRP Architects-designed redevelopment of the Miles Platting estate, under which 1600 council homes will be refurbished and 1000 new homes built, the latter primarily for private sale. Tom Russell, chief executive of the New East Manchester urban regeneration company, says there are several ways the area could benefit: "The BBC will bring in its wake a range of small businesses, and we see those being spread across the city. There is scope for us to capture those, especially in the Ancoats Urban Village and around the Ashton Canal where development like live/work is taking place that is highly suitable for the creative industries. We are already seeing architects and other creative industries moving in there."

Attracting the higher earners

Like others, Russell is also hoping to attract a share of the relocating BBC workers. "We are designing housing for a range of housing incomes, but we know that we need to attract medium-to high-income earners. It will be incumbent on us to get the infrastructure right. If we provide the schools, the transport and so on, people will feel safe and secure in their environment."

Each of the two sites under consideration by the BBC has its own regeneration merits. Salford Quays, already a prime regeneration area, would be given a massive boost by the BBC's arrival. Although Manchester may now be established as a destination, selection of the Central Spine site could be key to the city's growth, argues Savills' Williams: "It is a fairly untouched part of the city centre. It would bring a fringe area into the city boundary."

Both bid teams are reported to have put in strong business plan proposals. The final decision on whether the BBC will be able to move, and if so which site will be chosen, will be made later in the year. Hopes are high that the region will emerge a winner.