The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has abandoned plans to redevelop its renowned Porton Down research facility in Wiltshire, and will instead move to a biomedical centre in Hertfordshire, The MJ understands.

Wiltshire CC has condemned the decision, which could affect up to 750 jobs in the county. Wiltshire had been working with the HPA, and the area's regional development agency, on a business case which would have seen the Porton Down facility receive a £300m upgrade.

But the HPA, which openly considered several options for its research facilities, has now decided to vacate the 27-hectare site in Porton Down, which is famous for its military research. A source at the council said: ‘Was the HPA to leave Porton Down… it would have a heavy impact on local staff. Not many would be able to move to Hertfordshire, so we're talking about job losses if it [the HPA] leaves the site.'

The annual contribution of HPA staff to the local economy in Wiltshire is estimated at £70,000 per head.

The HPA's site at Porton Down is the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, which undertakes significant research into new diseases. But posts at the centre will now relocate to what is currently a private facility at Terlings Park site in Hertfordshire, close to Harlow in Essex, by 2015.

A 2008 report by a parliamentary select committee criticised the state of facilities at Porton Down and warned that some were so dilapidated they risked a devastating incident similar to the escape of the foot-and-mouth virus from facilities in Pirbright, Surrey, in 2007. 

Porton Down is also home to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Defence. The MoD's part of the site is one of Britain's most sensitive and secretive government facilities.