Plans to expand a controversial animal testing company in Harrogate have been given the go-ahead.
Labcorp Drug Development, which was previously called Covance and is based on Otley Road, conducts tests on various animals, including dogs and mice.
It lodged plans to refurbish and expand its site after purchasing six vacant buildings.
The company bought the former Nidec SR Drives offices, known as East Park House, in December 2020 for £2.45 million, according to HM Land Registry documents.
Now, Harrogate Borough Council has approved the proposal for the expansion.
Under plans submitted to the council, the firm will refurbish and extend the former Nidec offices.
A new entrance will be created, and the ground and first floors will be reconfigured. A one-way system to access the car park will also be built to reduce “traffic complications” on nearby Otley Road.
The proposed visual of East Park House, as submitted by Labcorp.
Labcorp also intends to refurbish five other buildings on the site to create office space, extensions for “new plant requirements” and further car parking and cycle space.
Rebecca Micallef, the authority’s economic and transport officer, said in response to a consultation on the plans that the economic development team were supportive of the expansion.
She said:
“This proposal will enable expansion of the business within its current location and promote the adaptation, refurbishment and reuse of a currently vacant commercial property. The proposed capital investment from a foreign company is particularly welcomed during this time of economic uncertainty caused by covid and Brexit.
“The proposed expansion and development will support Labcorp’s future within the Harrogate district and secure additional high level, high paid skilled jobs, directly supporting the aims of our economic growth strategy.”
Labcorp said in documents submitted to the council that the plans will help to “ensure the continued life” of property on the site.
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Animal testing in Harrogate has proved controversial and protests frequently take place outside Labcrop.
In October, Cllr Victoria Oldham, Conservative councillor for Washburn on the borough council, called for a moratorium on animal testing in the district.
However, this was turned down. Cllr Graham Swift, cabinet member for economic development, said in response:
“I don’t like and I don’t want medicines tested on animals. But the law insists medicines are tested on animals prior to being tested on humans and prior to being used as medicines.”
Cllr Swift added that about a third of Labcorp’s 4,000 UK staff were based in Harrogate, which was “great for the economy”.
Meanwhile, Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has lobbied government to help the company expand.
A Harrogate thalidomide campaigner has defended local firm Labcorp Drug Development in the row over animal testing.
Guy Tweedy said if thalidomide had been tested on animals in the 1950s, thousands of people such as himself might have been spared birth defects caused by the drug.
Mr Tweedy, who is one of 447 beneficiaries of the Thalidomide Trust, as well as a trustee of Harrogate-based charity Disability Action Yorkshire, said thalidomide was barely tested before it went on sale.
He added:
“If there had been better testing on animals before thalidomide came out in the UK between 1958 and 1962, it might have shown they could have been born with deformities, which would have prevented the same thing happening in humans.”
Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones is lobbying the government to help the company, previously called Covance, to expand. About a third of the American firm Labcorp’s 4,000 UK staff are based in Harrogate.
The site on Otley Road is frequently targeted by animal protestors. Harrogate Borough Council heard this month that live animals, including Beagle puppies, non-human primates. rabbits, mice and mini-pigs are experimented on in Harrogate.
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Cllr Victoria Oldham, the Conservative representative for Washburn, recently called for a moratorium on animal testing in the Harrogate district.
Her motion was rejected but councillors did agree to visit the site.
Mr Tweedy said he was an animal lover with several pets, including a dog and rabbits, but he nevertheless understood the necessity of testing for non-cosmetic purposes.
“At the end of the day they are doing tests for scientific purposes. If they had done the same for thalidomide I wouldn’t still be campaigning 60 years later.”
Primarily marketed under the brand name Distaval, thalidomide was sold to pregnant mothers in the UK for less than four years before it was withdrawn.
Andrew Jones MP bids to help Harrogate animal testing firm expandHarrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones is to meet the science minister to help a controversial Harrogate animal testing firm expand.
Labcorp Drug Development, which is on Otley Road and was previously called Covance, has been subject to regular demonstrations by animal activists.
A group held banners with slogans such as “puppy killers work here” during a demonstration last month.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Jones said Labcorp was “one of the largest employers in my constituency”.
The Conservative MP added the firm planned to expand and asked whether George Freeman, who was appointed science minister in this month’s government reshuffle, would meet to discuss it. Mr Jones said:
“One of the largest employers in my constituency is Labcorp, a business that is at the heart of new medicine development both in the UK and across Europe and has played a role in the life science industry response to covid.
“It is considering UK expansion over the next five years at a number of sites across the UK.
“Will my honourable friend meet me to discuss that opportunity, and also some of the obstacles that may get in the way of it, with a view to securing expansion in the UK as a whole but in Harrogate in particular?
Mr Freeman replied:
“I should be delighted to meet my honourable friend soon to discuss that.
“Labcorp is a major global corporation whose investment in the new clinical pharmacology site is vital. It is in such companies that we need to be investing to drive private investment in research and development.”
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The Stray Ferret contacted Labcorp but did not receive a response by time of publication.
It previously told us it “takes very seriously our ethical and regulatory responsibilities to treat research animals with the greatest care and respect”.
It added:
“In addition to being the right thing to do, the proper care of research animals is fundamental to sound scientific research and the ability to develop life-saving and life-enhancing new medicines.
“New drugs must be tested in animals before human clinical trials to ensure the safety of patients and volunteers and there are clear links between excellent animal welfare and medical breakthroughs.”