Hundreds of jobs are set to go at some of the UK’s major science facilities after a research council unveiled plans to reduce infrastructure spending by tens of millions of pounds a year.
Under plans to reduce its annual spending by £162 million by 2029-30, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) will mothball the Clara electron test accelerator it runs at its Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, reduce the operational budget of the Boulby Underground Mine facility in North Yorkshire by 40 per cent and reduce spending on computing by £10 million a year.
Fewer experiments will also be conducted at the STFC’s Isis neutron research facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory on the Harwell research campus in Oxfordshire, as part of efforts to save £28 million in operation costs at multidisciplinary facilities.
Reducing activity at smaller STFC facilities is part of a “targeted prioritisation” plan unveiled by the STFC, which will see estates spending on national laboratories reduce 58 per cent by the end of the decade.
Leading multidisciplinary facilities, including the Diamond Light Source, Isis Neutron and Muon Source and the Central Laser Facility, all based at the Harwell campus, will remain operational, although these multidisciplinary facilities’ budgets will reduce 15 per cent over four years, STFC confirmed.
