HC Deb 18 April 1989 vol 151 cc197-8 4.13 pm
Mr. Peter Hardy (Wentworth)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the decision by British Coal to close the science laboratory at Wath upon Deanne. The matter is urgent, because British Coal announced the decision to close this laboratory yesterday afternoon. It is serious, because the effect upon my constituency and the neighbouring areas will be severe. We have suffered a series of devastating economic blows in the past five years. Great effort is being made to secure employment and economic revival and the existence of this successful establishment serves as a most useful and valuable pointer to the fact that we can and must successfully accommodate high-tech development.

For British Coal to transfer the work of this laboratory to a locality that is further from the major coal-producing areas and where economic need is much less severe is regrettable. It will be a cause of some bitterness, because the decision will be seen as a brutal disregard of obligation by British Coal.

There is further anxiety, because much has been achieved at Wath regarding the identification of the origins of coal samples. That research, which is extremely effective in identifying cases of cheating in imported coal supplies, has not been properly admired in some of the quarters where it should have been.

Many of the scientists, who are highly qualified, now face either unemployment or the prospect of uprooting, changing their lives and ending the happy local contact which springs from their successful operations in south Yorkshire.

Last Monday, in Energy Question Time, the Under-Secretary of State for Energy, although he was, in part, most reassuring, made it clear that the responsibility for the decision rests entirely with British Coal.

I suggest that this matter is one which the House should consider immediately to allow deep anxiety or anger to be expressed. In that way, a view could be formed about this regrettable and serious decision.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Member for Wentworth (Mr. Hardy) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely, the decision by British Coal to close the science laboratory at Wath upon Dearne. I have listened with care to what the hon. Gentleman has said. As he knows, my sole duty when considering an application under Standing Order No. 20 is to decide whether it should be given priority over the business set down for today or for tomorrow. I regret that the matter that the hon. Gentleman has raised does not meet the requirements under the Standing Order and, therefore, I cannot submit his application to the House.