Daresbury cuts "mean it must close" say scientists

Feb 28 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

BRITAIN'S top scientists warned there was "no alternative" to closing the troubled Daresbury research campus because of savage funding cuts, it was dramatically revealed yesterday.

And the chief executive of the funding council proposed putting "all future national facilities" at a rival campus in Oxfordshire – leaving Daresbury, near Warrington, as a "private sector venture".

The secret closure proposal was revealed in documents obtained by a Commons committee, which is carrying out an inquiry into the future of Daresbury and other key science sites.

It was made by the Science Board, a panel of experts advising the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) on the impact of £80m cuts to its three laboratories, the most severe at Daresbury.

Around 350 of its 500 staff will be axed by April next year, with the decommissioning of the flagship Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) project claiming 150 jobs.

Last week, the Daily Post revealed that leading scientists at the Cockcroft Institute – a national centre for accelerator science – were threatening to quit and return to the United States unless the Government quickly guaranteed its future.

Since the storm broke, the STFC and science minister Ian Pearson have repeatedly insisted Daresbury has a bright future as a world-class centre for cutting-edge science.

But the documents revealed at yesterday's meeting of the innovation, universities and skills committee show that their own science experts gave a very different verdict in meetings last November.

Evan Harris, a Liberal Demo-crat MP, read out a Science Board memo, which warned: "There is no alternative to clos-ing Daresbury in the current climate."

A separate note, from STFC chief executive Keith Mason, suggested "all future national facilities to be located at Harwell [Oxfordshire]", with Daresbury "primarily a private sector venture".

Put on the spot yesterday, Professor Mason said those proposals had now been decisively ruled out, insisting: "That advice was made at a time when the financial situation, believe it or not, looked worse than it currently is."

Insisting new projects were in the pipeline, he added: "I predict that, in five years' time, Daresbury will be a shiny success story, with thousands more jobs on the site."

But Dr Harris suggested the decision to keep Daresbury open was political, not a science one, asking if it "followed a phone call from the Government".

He said: "The logical view is the one taken by the Science Board, that this is not going to be viable as a world-class science and innovation centre.

"It would be fairer to staff to accept that and tell the Government that you cannot deliver what they want you to deliver." The claim was denied.

Prof Mason – who, at one point admitted Daresbury had "deep-rooted and long-standing problems" – also caved in to pressure to release the confidential advice he received that dictated where the cuts fell.

When the chief executive said references to individuals would be blacked out, Labour MP Ian Gibson said: "It sounds like MI6!"

OPINION: PAGE 10