Peter Kyle wants to solve a scientific property problem that is in the midst of a major supply problem. Photo: Heathcliff O' ;Malley for the Telegraph
Labour has promised to scrap restrictive planning rules and build more laboratories, despite complaints from Nimbys that they could ruin the view.
Research property, as well as the housing market , is on the rise. in the midst of a major supply problem, with research hampered by a lack of laboratory space and other key infrastructure.
Peter Kyle, shadow minister for science, innovation and technology, said excessive bureaucratic red tape was a “huge barrier” to success of British science.
He has promised that if Labor wins the next general election, he will reform planning rules to make it easier for companies to access essential laboratory space for key research and development.
“Labour will support our scientists, not the blockers. new laboratories, our planning reform will build the economy of the future,” Mr Kyle told The Telegraph in his corner office at Portcullis House overlooking the Thames.
“We desperately need laboratories. , we are desperate for computing power and desperate for cloud computing infrastructure. All of these things are currently constrained by the planning system.
“Under Labour, if you are a company that needs laboratory space, computing power or cloud computing, you will have a government and a Secretary of State who will work with you to make sure you get it as quickly as possible.”
It comes at a time when Labor is actively backing housing to help it win a large majority and allow it to build on green belt land.
The party is reportedly prioritizing dozens of seats where voters see building houses as key issue to boost his election prospects, and Kyle hopes to use this public opinion to expand the scientific sector.
Mr. Kyle hopes so. Avoid failures such as blocking a “nationally important” data center being built next to the M25 as it will ruin the view from the footbridge of the country's busiest motorway.
Mr Kyle said: “Labour will support our scientists, not those who block new labs.” Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley for The Telegraph
Mr Kyle says the important projects are in line with Labour's four industrial objectives – delivering clean energy by 2030, using data to benefit society, caring for the future and building a more sustainable economy. economy – planning blockades will be quickly overcome, regardless of blighted views or unsightly buildings.
Both Labor and the Conservatives want to turn the UK's world-leading research skills into economic output and hope to encourage and promote a more entrepreneurial spirit among scientists is the solution.
But getting universities to work is difficult. commercially viable, and a shortage of laboratory space is crippling businesses before they even get started as local councilors and residents block planning applications.
Statistics from estate agents Bidwells show a shortage of laboratory space of 850,000 sq m. ft. last year, and rents have risen by more than a quarter in the past two years.
Meanwhile, British Land research shows the US city of Boston has 10 times more laboratory space than Oxford, Cambridge and London combined.
Two-thirds of people support the construction of a laboratory in their city. according to a survey by the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE). Data shows that labs are as popular as new schools or wind farms because they create high-paying jobs and stimulate the economy.
Clear opportunity for all parties
Rebecca Hill, Advocacy and Engagement Manager at CaSE, said: “The public not only supports local research and development, but also sees it as an asset to their communities. There is a clear opportunity for politicians of all parties to capitalize on this public appetite.”
Mr Kyle plans to cash in on this and aims to add more than £72 billion to the Treasury coffers by embracing digital technology across the economy.
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Stability, he says, is key because science is a slow process and therefore especially vulnerable to the frenzy of modern politics. The instability, he said, had led to the Conservative regime failing to deliver on its promise to turn Britain into a “scientific superpower”, leaving scientists in the UK worse off than their European and global counterparts.
The UK left Europe's flagship science program Horizon after Brexit, only to rejoin as an associate member last year and the government declared victory.
The UK is also only an associate member of Euratom and no longer participates in the Erasmus exchange program, and scientists are being excluded from working in the UK due to high visa prices and harsh immigration laws.
“ We need a government that looks forward 2030s and beyond and take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of us, rather than a government that is always looking backwards, trying to replace what they inadvertently lost,” Mr Kyle said.
< img src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/8aa1d2c322abf6959359db885ec185ed.jpg" />Michelle Donelan, the science minister, was accused by Mr Kyle. Photo: Lucy North/PA
He blames the chaos and subsequent scientific setbacks in the country on his colleague, Michelle Donelan, the Science Minister.
Ms Donelan recently used £15,000 of taxpayers' money to settle a libel claim after a British scientist was accused of being a Hamas sympathizer.
Civil servants were working on the defamatory letter, published on Ms Donelan's personal Twitter account, until midnight on Friday at her direction.
Mr Kyle accused Ms Donelan of “chasing a ghost threat” rather than focusing on her powers, adding that the dysfunction “does not just generate headlines and roil day-to-day politics, but has a profound impact on the economic health of our frontline nation.”
“This merry-go-round of announcements, followed by poor results, followed by cancellations, then more announcements, needs to stop.”
Labour hopes the NHS can become a standard-bearer for innovation with a plan to eliminate many layers of bureaucracy and insularity that contribute to the systemic failure to widely adopt technological improvements.
His close relationship with Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary with whom he shares an office, culminated in the joint signing of Labour's life sciences strategy, which promises to use the health service's vast data to “lead the world in clinical trials”.
Mr Kyle hopes to speed up the adoption of technology across the country to end postcode lotteries caused by individual funds deciding what new technologies and systems they will use.
“The NHS has improved significantly when it comes to clinical trials. ” he said. “The problem comes at the next stage, once this innovation has been proven.
“The NHS is appalling at spreading this innovation across the NHS for the benefit of all patients.”
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