Visit to The Quadrant

Today councillors were given the opportunity to visit 'The Quadrant' which is simply described as 'home to a very significant proportion of the South East's scientific, R&D, high technology and other high value businesses. It is recognized internationally as a global hot spot for enterprise and innovation in science, technology and the application of knowledge.'

The area encompasses Milton Park, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot and Wantage and Grove. We visited the Diamond Light Source which I visited last July and reported here and this is now up and running providing an excellent research facility for experiments all over the world. The X-rays provided by this synchrotron are 100 billion times brighter than a standard laboratory X-ray tube. 4,500 employees work in 100 organisations on the Harwell Campus which is home to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Medical Research Council as well as Diamond.

Milton Park is Oxfordshire's largest mixed-use business community which is host to a wide range of organisations and has one of the UK's foremost science communities. 250 acres of landscaped grounds accommodates over 160 companies which employ around 6,500 people. There are a number of park amenities including restaurants, swimming pool and nursery.

The nearby town of Didcot has been transformed with its new Orchard shopping centre and cinema and is due to expand even more due to its proximity to all the above and hosting a main line station. However, Wantage and Grove need to have some fair share of the benefits, and we hope that this will not be forgotten in the greater scheme of things to come.