Richard Benyon's Westminster Diary, February 26, 2009

Richard Benyon MP • Published 26 Feb 2009 12:30 0 Comments

THE Ministry of Defence is about to spend millions on moving all intelligence organisations onto one site.

Unfortunately this means we in West Berkshire will lose our local unit, 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic), based at Hermitage.

This excellent organisation has been based here, along with the Royal School of Military Survey, for an age. This means it is embedded in the local community.

Many who have served with this unit make West Berkshire their home when they leave. We will feel the loss greatly.

But wait, the fat lady hasn't sung yet. This is not just a bad decision for us in West Berkshire, it's bad for the taxpayer too.

This grandiose scheme is the plaything of a ministry with buckets of cash. Surely in these difficult times "nice to have" reorganisations like this should be shelved. And does it make strategic sense to put all our intelligence eggs in one basket?

With the age of digital communication, data can be encrypted and flashed across the world in seconds. So why should units live on top of each other?

Now go from Hermitage across the Downs to see more millions being wasted closing down the Institute of Animal Health at Compton and moving this centre of excellence to Surrey.

IAH Compton is a large site and it benefits from its proximity to another scientific base, Harwell. It is surrounded by its own farmland which acts as a living laboratory as well as a disease "cordon sanitaire". It will be closed down and millions wasted on a smaller site at Pirbright from where the foot and mouth virus escaped two years ago.

One of the reasons for this move was that the Veterinary Laboratory at Wadebridge was moving to Pirbright - only that has now been cut from the budget. In truth it is a political decision because ministers want to say, "look at the money we are spending on Pirbright". Being seen to "do something" is the cheapest political trick in the book.

Two bad decisions, wasting taxpayer's money and diminishing the life of communities in West Berkshire.

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This blog appeared in Reading Chronicle 26 Feb 09

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