The 'Times' for 14 March 2000 reported on the front page that Lord Sainsbury, the Science Minister, said the synchrotron research facility would be based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire instead of the expected site at Daresbury near Warrington. The decision was taken by the Prime Minister.
The location of the new synchrotron was the subject of the
following written Parliamentary Question from Helen Southworth, Member
of Parliament for Warrington South on 25 November 1999:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is
taking to ensure an informed decision on the site for the new
synchrotron.
The answer from the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry was as
follows:
I have considered the issues carefully and it is clear to me that on scientific and financial grounds the choice of a site for the new synchrotron lies between the two main sites of the Central Laboratory for the Research Councils: the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. There has been a number of studies looking at the project proposals and the sites. At the same time, however, the project has been evolving, for example with the announcement in August of the French Government�s participation in the project and changing views on capacity requirements and technical solutions. I am, therefore, commissioning two further studies to inform a final decision on the site.
First, I have asked the Director General of Research Councils to seek the views of synchrotron users on what they see as the key issues of relevance to a decision on the site for the new synchrotron. He will be doing this in the course of the next month or so.
Second, we will be commissioning an external engineering survey and report on the two potential sites for the new synchrotron. I have asked for this report by early January to enable me to make a final decision in the light of all the evidence and announce it by mid January.
The Office of Science and Technology issued the following
statement on 9 May 2000.
"SYNCHROTRON - MINISTERIAL MEETING WITH FRANCE
An article in the Financial Times today (9 May) entitled "Minister aids
French X-ray laboratory" implied that at the Ministerial meeting held on
the 5 May, the UK made a commitment to fund a new synchrotron to be
built in France.� This is incorrect.� The correct position is as stated in the
joint anglo-french press release, copy attached.� Namely, that the new
French Minister confirmed his commitment to the New Synchrotron to be
built at RAL, and that discussions were held on the possibility of the UK,
together with other countries, participating in some future unspecified
synchrotron project proposed to be built in France as part of ongoing
European discussions on the future requirements for large scientific
facilities.� No specific proposals were discussed and no commitment to
fund such a project made."
The statement issued by the Department of Trade and Industry on Friday
was as follows.
"MINISTERS MEET ON SYNCHROTRON
At a meeting in Paris today, UK Science Minister Lord Sainsbury and his
French counterpart, Mr�Schwartzenberg confirmed their intention to work
together on a 3rd generation synchrotron to be built on the site of the
Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory near Oxford.� The two Ministers also
wish to advance the finalising of the technical specification and
organisational structure of the project to enable French and British
scientists to benefit from the new synchrotron as quickly as possible.
They also had a fruitful discussion on the possibility of the United
Kingdom participating with other partners in a 3rd generation synchrotron
to be located in France.� The two facilities would enable the scientific
community in the future to cover a wide range of applications of
synchrotron radiation."
The Times 27 November 1999 page 30 reported:
In an article about the growing wealth and influence of Wellcome that:
"Only this week, the trust set out its opposition to plans to site a new
molecular research facility at the Daresbury laboratory in Cheshire.
Wellcome has threatened to withdrawthe �110 million funding it has promised
- two thirds of the total needed - if the Government presses ahead and
ignores the claims of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, a
site in the heart of a much larger scientific community."
Page 24 of The Times for 22 Nov 1999 reported "Dismay
at delay over science base" Paul Durman writes that The Times
has been told that Mr Steven Byers,
(Secretary of State for Science and Industry), does not intend to take a final decision until after Christmas.
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