Live! - News

BP Decision to Kill Wye Plans?

Jul 30 2006 21:49

The Dark Knight

Imperial's plans for Wye look set to depend on the location of BP's Energy Biosciences Institute.

Will the BP biosciences institute come to Imperial?

In June, BP announced plans to fund a $500m Energy Biosciences Institute for biofuels research, in partnership with a university. Imperial is one of the universities being considered, with a decision expected in September.

Save Wye is reporting that BP's decision could spell the death of the Wye Park project the website was set up to oppose. The plan, to build a large science park and research institute at Wye, has stalled recently with contractors being taken off of the project.

Biofuels research was at the heart of the Wye Park plans, partly due to the easy access to agricultural resources. If BP's EBI is located at a British university, finding government funding for a second centre for bioefuels research at Wye would become very difficult. It is believed that an Imperial-based EBI would be based in London, as Wye Park is several years off - research is intended to start by the end of 2007.

With the Wye Park plans on hold and teaching being taken over by Kent next year, the future of College's leafy outpost is looking muddled.

Email this Article | Share on Facebook

Discussion about “BP Decision to Kill Wye Plans?”

The comments below are unmoderated submissions by Live! readers. The Editor accepts no liability for their content, nor for any offence caused by them. Any complaints should be directed to the Editor.

1. cynic

Jul 31 2006 14:06

No, you don't understand.

The biofuels centre plan will be abandoned AFTER the 'enabling' housing developments have taken place, at which point College will announce their 'great disappointment' at 'unforeseen' obstacles (i.e. their purse will stay heavier if they don't bother), but that they will still be investing the big fat housing profits in other energy-related projects (i.e. glass-cladding Skempton, which happens to contain an Energy Futures Lab).

Net result: one AONB destroyed, turning beautiful countryside into soulless housing estates; all AONBs the left open for the same thing to happen elsewhere; and a few ugly concrete tower-blocks in London covered in glass, but still ugly anyway.

2. Nichola

Jul 31 2006 14:34

Oh dear...

*holds breath and waits for inevitable "Well of course AONB's should be concreted because some students got into Wye with fewer UCAS points than I needed for ISE" tirades*

3. ISE

Jul 31 2006 17:17

F**k yeah

4. another cynic

Jul 31 2006 22:20

You forgot to mention that by cladding old concrete buildings in glass, the energy consumption will rise because, err, you just built a greenhouse in the summer sun. no wonder we have power cuts in summer and not winter.... Talk about wasting energy at the pumps. I'd be surprised if the total amount BP want to invest is more than the annual energy bill of Oxbridge and Imperial put together. Greenwash, the whole fugging lot.

Add your comment:

Name:
Email:
Comment:
Anti-spam:	If you can see this, something is broken (either with your browser, or with our system). Please leave the box below empty, or your comment will be considered to be spam.