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Courts uphold decision on Cambridge primate laboratory
An appeal against planning permission for the University of Cambridge to build a primate laboratory ha been rejected by the UK courts.
Two animal rights groups have lost their legal challenge to the planning permission granted to the University of Cambridge to build a primate neuroscience laboratory. The university's application for permission was heard at a public inquiry at the end of 2002. The planning inspector in charge of the inquiry recommended against planning permission being given, but the final decision was taken by the UK Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. Mr Prescott granted planning permission, calling the proposed laboratory as a matter of national importance.
Several months later, following an aggressive campaign by animal rights activists, the university announced that it was not going to proceed with the plans for the laboratory. Despite this, Animal Aid and the National Anti-Vivisection Society went to court to get the planning permission revoked. The judge who turned down their appeal, Mr Justice Collins, said that he considered that the planning inspector had made the wrong recommendation and that the Deputy Prime Minister was quite correct to grant permission as a matter of government policy.