Sutton Bridge reprieved for now

16 March 1999

Sutton Bridge reprieved — for now

By FWi staff

THE British Potato Council (BPC) has ended months of uncertainty by announcing it will retain ownership and management of its Sutton Bridge Experimental Unit.

Many had feared that valuable work into potato storage would have been lost had the Lincolnshire-based research station been forced to close.

Todays decision means that research at Sutton Bridge will continue at least for the foreseeable future, said BPC chairman David Walker.

“Our goals are to ensure best practice of storage science and the most use of levy payers assets,” he said.

“We must ensure that adequate facilities are available to carry out BPC and industry projects requiring storage experimentation.”

The next step is to secure investment from one or more other research centres willing to invest in storage facilities in the long run, added Mr Walker.

“This strategy will retain the Experimental Unit at the heart of potato industry research and development,” he claimed.

Management of Sutton Bridge will continue under Adrian Cunnington, the current operations manager, who will complete ongoing projects with his team of staff.