The BBC Trust on Thursday told the public service broadcaster to slow the pace of its online developments because of competitive tensions with the commercial sector and “poor financial accountability”.

In the first of its service reviews under the BBC’s new Charter, the Trust, the corporation’s governing body, said it would apply stronger scrutiny before authorising new developments at bbc.co.uk, particularly in “hyper-local” news coverage and educational services – areas where local newspapers and other commercial groups have suggested the BBC has overreached its public service remit and distorted the market.