AstraZeneca move will create ‘regional skills crisis’

ASTRAZENECA’S decision to close its research and development facility in Cheshire has been met with widespread shock and disappointment.

The pharmaceutical group said yesterday it will relocate 1,600 jobs from Alderley Park over the next two years.

Most of the positions will go to a £330m purpose-built facility in Cambridge while some will go to a site in Macclesfield, and others overseas. The company will keep around 700 staff at Alderley Park.

The union Unite accused AstraZeneca of creating a skills crisis in the North West by draining the region of highly skilled research and development jobs.

Unite national officer Linda McCulloch said: “After forty years of success and hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, we are at a loss as to why AstraZeneca is now pulling out of Alderley Park. The region desperately needs this highly skilled workforce – they make a huge contribution to the economy and to the community.

“Staff will be shell-shocked by this announcement. Skilled scientific jobs are in short supply and there are many families based around Alderley Park with deep roots in the community. It is going to be a real struggle to relocate families hundreds of miles away to Cambridge.”

Dr Neil Murray, chief executive of the Liverpool-based drug development company Redx Pharma described the move as a “set-back” for the region.

He said: “The Astra Zeneca R&D centre at Alderley Park is a world class facility and the prospect of the greater part of it moving to Cambridge is certainly a set-back for the North West economy, not least because these are high value jobs.

“The industry is clearly changing and there is increasingly an emphasis on small, agile companies like our own to contribute to the industry’s research challenge. In growing our business we’ve been fortunate to recruit staff from a variety of large pharma companies and we anticipate building on that core.”

James Hadfield, a biotech specialist at the Manchester offices of accountancy firm Grant Thornton, said: “The relocation of these key R&D jobs is a set back and the suggestion that it took the personal intervention of George Osborne to prevent the AZ facility at Alderley Park closing entirely will send a shudder through the North West life science community.  

He added: “The North West has made great progress in recent years in establishing itself as a respected centre for life sciences, but unfortunately the attractiveness of a world class bio-cluster like Cambridge will have been a big draw for AZ.

“The continued presence of AZ’s Macclesfield manufacturing facility and the retention of 700 jobs at Alderley Park will mean they remain a major employer and driver of the local economy.”

Andy Duxbury, chair of the Cheshire branch of the Institute of Directors North West, said: “Cheshire has done well to attract some big names to the region, building its reputation as a hub for skilled science and engineering talent.

“While the loss of AstraZeneca’s R&D facility is disappointing, we must ensure that investment continues to be made in skills, infrastructure and the economy in order to maintain this profile and attract more businesses to the region.”

Alderley Park was bought by ICI in 1950 to create a research site for its pharmaceuticals business and to attract world class scientists. It was here that Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir James Black discovered beta blockers.

He was special guest at the site when dignitaries including the then Trade Secretary Alistair Darling celebrated 50 years of R&D in 2007.

Last year AstraZeneca secured £5m from the Regional Growth Fund to help create a hub for pharmaceutical innovation and biotech enterprise at the park.

* Foreign investment has declined in the North since the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies, according a new report.

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