Alice in Wonderland lab could be terror target

Published: 31 March, 2011

• WERE Lewis Carroll alive today, he would really believe that Alice in Wonderland ruled England.

I have seen in the press that the Wellcome Trust have put in a bid of £1billion to buy most of the Olympic Park after the games. 

It is about to embark on building a new biolab on a small site at the back of the British Library (3.6 acres) in concert with the Mill Hill Research Laboratories, Cancer Research UK and University College. The cost of this new building will be so much that none of the consortium were able or willing to put a figure on construction, commission and running costs when questioned at a recent parliamentary select committee.

The present Mill Hill laboratories are on a site of approximately 47 acres. I cannot understand why the Wellcome Trust do not put their £1billion to enlarge the existing laboratories there rather than making the offer to buy the Olympic Park. Could there be some relationship between their bid and the Mayor‘s swift approval of the building of the biolab in central London?

I am deeply concerned that the new superlab (model pictured) in the centre of London would be a magnet for terrorists, animal rights people and/or an accident. However well built nothing would be bomb-proof, be it accident or an act of terrorism.

The surrounding area contains three main line stations plus six Underground lines. Having seen the chaos and difficulty in communications on July 7 2005, the possibility of a similar occurrence is too awful to contemplate.

The Fukushima nuclear accident and the resulting radiation is an awful lesson for us all.

No one is against the valuable research into all the diseases, but the fact that the biolab goes up to Level 3 is very worrying, particularly when a perfectly viable group of buildings in Mill Hill is already in place.

The fact that Camden Council gave planning permission for the biolab in return for building low-cost housing on the last green site in that area is, to my mind, not only a mistake but is risking the lives of the residents and workers in the borough.

We have been betrayed by Camden for 30 pieces of silver and they should be ashamed.

MIREILLE BURTON
Lady Margaret Road, NW5