Oppose the proposed UKCMRI medical research lab on Brill Place
- Target:
- Camden council, the Mayor of London, the British Prime Minister
- Region:
- United Kingdom
- Website:
- stpanstplanningaction.wordpress.com
The proposed lab betrays the precautionary principle by facilitating extensive research on dangerous human viruses right beside one of the major transport hubs of the UK and Europe.
The democratically agreed Camden council planning brief for the Brill Place site (empty land behind the British Library) calls for:
* any development to contain at least 50% housing by floorspace, of which 50% should be affordable housing;
community facilities on the site;
* the development to be permeable, not one solid block.
The proposed development contains not one home; a limited, token community offering and there is no permeability through this high-security facility.
We, the undersigned, call on Camden Council, the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister to:
Ensure that the UKCMRI medical research centre is not built on the site known as Brill Place, behind the British Library and opposite St Pancras Station, in light of:
1. The risk of contagious outbreaks or terrorist attacks from which contamination could quickly and easily spread through the densely populated surrounding area, as well as through the rail systems of London, Britain and Europe.
2. The fact that the UKCMRI research lab planned for the site is grotesquely large, overshadowing St Pancras Station and nearby homes and threatening residents' health and wellbeing; that it detracts from the Grade I-listed splendour of St Pancras Station; and obstructs statutorily protected St Paul's sightlines.
3. The desperate need in the St Pancras and Somers Town area for more housing and community facilities for which the Brill Place site had been previously zoned.
4. The expenditure of £600 million (£220 million from government) on a building that will take at least five years to complete before the government priorities of scientific research and teaching can commence there, when annual running costs of £100 million must be met. The UKCMRI is a risky investment at a time of swingeing government cuts – an expensive potential disaster.
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The Oppose the proposed UKCMRI medical research lab on Brill Place petition to Camden council, the Mayor of London, the British Prime Minister was written by St Pancras and Somers Town Planning Action and is in the category City & Town Planning at GoPetition.