Bedfordshire for Nirah!

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The Times&Citizen has come into the rebate on Nirah. Rather than go through the debate again, here is a summary of points made in the article:

* Nirah – the National Institute for Research into Aquatic Habitats – is a £375 million scheme to bring a massive freshwater wildlife sanctuary, visitor attraction and research centre to Bedfordshire.

The Quest claypit at Stewartby has been lined up as the site, and the county council and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) have formed a consortium to bankroll the early work on the blueprint to the tune of £3 million. A planning application was pencilled in for submission in August.

But the partners have fallen out over the business plan for the massive venture, and the issue of money needed over-and-above the £3 million to get it through the planning stage.

* The council's original legal advice is understood to have been that loaning money to Nirah would not mean it was risking a breach of the law. But since then, the emphasis of the Nirah plan has shifted from science and research as moneyspinners, to the need to attract paying customers as a visitor attraction.

It is that change of tack which seems to have made the county nervous – particularly when another high-profile tourist magnet is on the horizon, without a penny of public money at stake, namely Center Parcs at Warren Wood, near Ampthill.

Nevertheless, the authority has come under fire for obstructing the progress of Nirah.

* Mayor of Bedford Frank Branston said the future of the scheme in Bedfordshire remained "absolutely on a knife edge."

He said: "The county council is still talking about getting legal advice. I don't know how long that will take, but I do know you won't get a clear-cut view.

"The only thing that can save the project now is the pressure of public opinion. Wherever I go, people are saying it is vital to Bedford and Bedfordshire, and they need to express this.

"Nirah is the most important project in Bedfordshire since the war. It could turn the area around, make people aware of where we are, and be an icon for Bedford and the county. If people want to see it happen they should come to the meeting and add their voices."