Having written only two weeks ago about the fate of ICI, once Britain’s’ largest industrial company, now no more, I discover that the story has got even worse. The demise of ICI began when in 1999, they hived off the more profitable pharmaceuticals wing to form Zeneca. The old ICI research centre at Alderley Park, source of the innovation that drove Zeneca lived on as a research base for the new company.
But no longer. Today we hear that the centre will close with the loss of 550 jobs. Another 1650 will be relocated to the new Astra Zeneca research HQ in Cambridge. Not all loss then but why should all of Britain's remaining hi-tech expertise be in Cambridge? George Osborne helped to secure a £5 million grant for Alderley only a few months ago and now the North will lose yet another of its major companies. For whom, quite, does this make sense?
But no longer. Today we hear that the centre will close with the loss of 550 jobs. Another 1650 will be relocated to the new Astra Zeneca research HQ in Cambridge. Not all loss then but why should all of Britain's remaining hi-tech expertise be in Cambridge? George Osborne helped to secure a £5 million grant for Alderley only a few months ago and now the North will lose yet another of its major companies. For whom, quite, does this make sense?
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