College scraps £1bn science park

The campus at Wye would have become a £1bn science park

Plans to build a £1bn science park and housing in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Kent have been scrapped by Imperial College, London.

Residents in Wye, near Ashford, were against the sale of up to 250 acres of greenfield land near the college's campus for housing to pay for the plan.

The college said it had decided the scheme was not a "wise, viable or desirable investment of public funds".

The development of the existing campus would have created up to 12,500 jobs.

It was hoped the facilities would be used by global industrial companies for research in drugs, engineering and medicine.

I tried to bring the jobs to the area but I don't think anybody envisaged the sort of scale that emerged Councillor Paul Clokie

Kent County Council, Ashford Borough Council and Imperial College signed the Wye Concordat declaring their intention to go ahead with the scheme last December.

However, residents who attended a public meeting in January called to discuss the scheme, said they were being "railroaded" into the destruction of their village.

Earlier this month, Ashford Council said it did not want to see greenfield development in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Ben Moorehead, chairman of the Wye Future group, said residents were determined to fight the "total devastation" they believed the scheme would bring.

"I am absolutely thrilled," he added.

"We were very much in favour of a world-class research centre in Wye.

"But you can't afford to destroy a beautiful village in a lovely landscape for the sake of possible jobs."

'Patience and co-operation'

Leader of the council, Paul Clokie, said the loss of potential jobs was "disappointing".

"I tried to bring the jobs to the area but I don't think anybody envisaged the sort of scale that emerged," he said.

Deputy rector of the college, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, said: "I would like to thank the people of Wye for their patience and co-operation.

"As I said at the public meeting in January, the views of local people would play a significant part in our decision-making process."

The Campaign to Protect Rural England said it was "ecstatic" that Wye was no longer threatened by greenfield development.