Cheshire Independent Issue 217

MACCLESFIELD • TYTHERINGTON • BOLLINGTON ALDERLEY EDGE • PRESTBURY • WILMSLOW • HANDFORTH • POYNTON • BRAMHALL • DISLEY • ALSAGER • BIDDULPH • CONGLETON • SANDBACH ISSUE 217 FREE CHESHIRE FREE YOUR LOCAL GOOD NEWS-PAPER FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @CheshireIndy www.independentnewspapers.co.uk Looking for Flooring Inspiration? Let us help you find the perfect flooring for your home. With great advice, home styling, measure and planning service, plus quality fitting of top brands and designs, youwill be glad you did . Visit our showroom: Tuesday to Saturday or call 01260 224445 for a private appointment Thornycroft Farm, Pexhill Road, Siddington, Cheshire SK11 9JN ● Modern, Traditional & Luxury Carpets ● Natural Wood Flooring ● Laminate Flooring ● Stair Runners & Rods ● Luxury Vinyl Tiles ● Bespoke Rugs & Runners MORE than 150 public figures have signed a let- ter calling for the govern- ment to reverse a “foolish” decision and “find fund- ing immediately to save Jodrell Bank”. About £2.8m has been pulled from the Cheshire observatory, leaving the Uni- versity of Manchester need- ing to find alternative cash by 2028. Signatories of the letter include astronaut Tim Peake, musicians Sir Brian May and Jarvis Cocker, Scotland’s Astronomer Royal Prof Cathe- rine Heymans, physicists Prof JimAl-Khalili and Prof Brian Cox, and Judy Spence, the daughter of the site’s founder Sir Bernard Lovell. The UKResearch and Inno- vation agency (UKRI) has said it had to focus on projects that delivered “the greatest long- term impact”. The observatory, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is domi- nated by the enormous Lovell Telescope, a structure that was voted Britain’s greatest unsung landmark in 2006. All scientific observations at Jodrell are expected to cease on the 1 April 2028 unless alternative funding can be found. Twenty-eight jobs are at risk at the observatory, but its clo- sure would also affect the work of nearly 3,000 scientists who use it in their research. When the plan to cut fund- ing was announced, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the UK’s world class research was “absolutely cen- tral to creating a better future for the UK”. “I am committed to work- ing with UKRI to ensure the UK remains able not only to sustain its world-leading research capabilities, but also to invest in the next genera- tion of scientific facilities and infrastructure that will under- pin discovery, innovation and growth in the years ahead,” he said. The open letter was signed by a number of figures who have played concerts or broad- cast from the observatory, including guitarist Johnny Marr, electronica pioneer Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk, the bands NewOrder, Elbow and Doves, comedian Dara Ó Briain and poet laureate Simon Armitage. STARS OUT TO SAVE JODRELL BANK Iconic telescope could be axed in £2.8m science cuts The Lovell telescope has been at the cutting edge of science for nearly 70 years. (Image: Manchester University) It stated Jodrell Bank was “an icon in UK cultural and scientific history”, which was the “thriving, thumping heart of space observation, research and education in the UK”. “This beacon of science is more ambitious than ever, with exciting plans already under way that will ensure the UK’s relevance and lead- ership in the rapidly evolving domain of space exploration and utilisation,” it said. It said that in being the headquarters for the new Square Kilometre Array Observatory, Jodrell Bank was “at the heart of the big- gest astronomical project in the world” and could play an “essential role” in global safety in “tracking space debris, destructive solar flares, sat- ellites and asteroids”. It said the site was also “the birthplace of future UK sci- ence pioneers”, as it welcomed “more than 25,000 schoolchil- dren every year”. “This only begins to explain the value of Jodrell Bank,” it added. “If you were offered the opportunity to realise all of these huge national and global benefits, for an investment of just £2.8m a year, you’d be foolish not to seize it.” The UKRI, which has an annual budget of about £10bn, said it has had to cut the observatory’s annual £2.8m budget because planned research costs for physics and the running of its labs had escalated. The announcement was part of broader cuts to astronomy, nuclear and particle physics research over the next four years which will also impact on other projects. The UK will no longer par- ticipate in research at the James Clark Maxwell Tele- scope in Hawaii and has cut funding for the UK’s involve- ment in two instruments on the Extremely Large Telescope which is being built in Chile. A number of upgrades to improve experiments at the Large Hadron Collider will also not be paid for by the agency.