The UK’s fight against animal disease is to be bolstered with a £200 million pound investment in the Animal Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) laboratories at Weybridge.
The laboratories will now be safeguarded and enhanced to ensure the UK maintains our world-leading scientific and veterinary capability.
Weybridge is the UK’s primary capability for managing the threats posed by the spread of diseases carried by animals, many of which pose a significant threat to public health, the food and farming sector, the wider economy, and the environment. It is critical national infrastructure and a global centre of expertise in a wide range of animal diseases, providing ‘end to end’ capability from research to outbreak response.
The threat from zoonotic diseases is increasing globally. The funding will enable the APHA to replace and upgrade the biosecurity facilities providing increased capability to prevent, detect and respond to disease outbreaks. This new science hub will provide additional capacity to meet both current and future requirements, including enhancing its ability to handle concurrent major disease outbreaks.
