18.09.15
PHE placed at the heart of research with new £350m labs
Part of Public Health England will migrate to new £350m facilities in Harlow to improve connectivity and collaboration with academia and the life sciences industry concentrated in that part of Essex.
The new public health labs, to be based on a site currently owned by GlaxoSmithKline, will replace the “ageing facilities” at Porton Down in Wiltshire in a bid to enhance PHE’s involvement with research and innovation.
This will see most of the PHE presence currently occupying a shared site with Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) in Porton relocated to Essex.
The site will serve as a leading centre for research, health improvement and protection, such as by enabling further work international health threats like Ebola.
Health minister Jane Ellison MP said: “We saw from the Ebola epidemic how important it is to be ready to respond to emerging health threats and protect the nation. This significant investment in public health science will keep the UK at the forefront of the work for global health security.”
Additional public health facilities will be considered in Colindale, London as part of the Spending Review.
Duncan Selbie, PHE chief executive, said: “This is a big step forward for UK public health science. Giving our world-leading scientists world-class facilities, located in the region with the greatest concentration of academic and commercial expertise in life sciences, will ensure we can deal with the health challenges we face now and are certain to face in the future.”
The decision comes following PHE’s submission of an outline business case to the government on July 2014.
Porton Down has been used as the government’s scientific, public health and military science base since before the World War Two, with the public health labs based there for the last 60 years. People in Wiltshire are mourning the migration, as hundreds of local jobs will be axed.
Chancellor George Osborne has agreed to demands from local MP John Glen, who is “extremely disappointed” with the decision, to set up a taskforce to help the local economy and workers who do not want to move to the new Harlow site.
Glen told the Western Daily Press: “I am extremely disappointed to hear this decision has finally been confirmed. I have had four debates and lobbied hard for five years but the question now is how to maximise the opportunities for a brighter future for Porton.”
But the health minister said PHE remains “committed” to the Porton site despite the need to invest in modern facilities. The regional PHE laboratory will remain in the region, alongside the publicly owned pharmaceutical company Porton Biopharma.
Cllr Jane Scott, leader of Wilshire Council, said that, while it is disappointing, the decision is not unexpected.
She said: “The council has been working with the government and other stakeholders for some time looking at the potential future of the Porton campus in acknowledge of the uncertainty surrounding the future of PHE at this location.
“It is important to recognise that under the current proposals not all of PHE’s activities will be relocating and that substantial elements of the manufacturing, for example, including Porton Biopharma, will still remain.”