Salisbury MP calls for Porton Down future to be secured
Plans to move the UKHSA to Essex have been being discussed since 2015
Salisbury's MP is demanding clarification on the future of the UKHSA (UK Health and Security Agency) at Porton Down.
John Glen is urging the Government to reconsider a decision made in 2015 to move the site from South Wiltshire to Harlow in Essex.
He led an adjournment debate on Wednesday with the Health Minister on the topic.
Costs spiralling out of control
Since plans were made, Mr Glen tells us that very little has happened in realising that plan.
"There's been up to 90 people working on a programme, work out how to achieve that, how to have continuity of what goes on important and the functions there whilst they move to a new building," he said, telling that over the course of his decade and a half as an MP, the costs have been spiralling out of control.
Initially the cost was estimated to be £525m, but that figure has ballooned over the past decade.
Mr Glen said: "They've already spent £400 million just planning it and they said the total cost of the report called from the National Audit Office, which looks at these big projects, says that it will cost 3.2 billion.
"So it's gone up six times in 10 years."
The Conservative MP added that the move was expected to be completed by 2021, but that's now shifted to 2036.
During the time since the plans were made, the country had to face the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the UKHSA played a significant role in developing vaccines and proving Porton Down's value to the nation.
That was followed by a £65m investment to boost facilities at the site, despite plans to move elsewhere.
Mr Glen said the site is already a world leader: "It does very sensitive work. It does world class work, looking at different diseases.
"We need that capability to be secure and to be untroubled by these decisions around government."
A decision to be made soon
Mr Glen says he hopes to have an answer in the coming weeks.
"My hope is that in a few weeks time we have, what's called the spending review, where the government sets out how much money they're going to spend over the next three years.
"And on that day, which is the 11th of June, I hope that they will decide not to pursue this programme and instead invest on the refurbishment a lot more money, but less than 3.2 billion."
He added that this step would give clarity to the futures of all the scientists working in South Wiltshire, allowing them to continue building their lives in an area where they are already embedded.
In a letter to Harlow MP Chris Vince, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Government is considering options to renew the UK's High Containment Laboratory facilities, with Harlow one of the venues being considered.
She insisted that a decision will be made as part of the spending review process.