Lower Withington Parish Council backs campaign to protect Jodrell Bank’s scientific future
Lower Withington Parish Council has given its strong support to efforts to protect the future of Jodrell Bank Observatory following the decision by STFC and UKRI to end operational funding for e-MERLIN, the UK’s National Radio Astronomy Facility. The Parish Council is calling on Government to secure the funding needed to keep Jodrell Bank operating as a world-leading scientific observatory beyond March 2028.
Jodrell Bank has been part of Lower Withington for more than 80 years, with much of the Observatory lying within the parish. Generations of local residents have lived alongside its telescopes and supported the special planning protections needed to safeguard radio astronomy at the site. Today Jodrell Bank is both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a working scientific observatory, with the Lovell and Mark II telescopes forming key parts of the e-MERLIN network.
The Parish Council is asking residents who share its concerns to contact their local MPs and ask them to support continued funding for e-MERLIN and the scientific operation of Jodrell Bank. Decisions about the Observatory’s future are being made nationally, but the consequences will be felt here in Lower Withington. A strong response from the community which has hosted and supported Jodrell Bank throughout its history can help demonstrate how much its continued scientific future matters locally.
The Parish Council has resolved to write to Government and local the Member of Parliament expressing its support. Jodrell Bank is one of the most remarkable features of Lower Withington and an internationally recognised part of Britain’s scientific heritage. The Council wants to see it remain not simply a monument to the discoveries of the past, but a working observatory making the discoveries of the future.
