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By silicon.com, 14 December 1998 17:37

NEWS Peter Mandelson's plans to create high-tech centres of excellence in the UK are likely to run into trouble with environmental groups. In a white paper issued on Wednesday, the UK Trade secretary will launch a six-month review period of how to promote IT "clusters" in areas like Cambridgeshire's Silicon Fen. Mandelson, who recently spent time in Silicon Valley in California, has gone on record about his desire to create a "knowledge-driven economy" in the UK. The paper is likely to urge the use of regional development agencies to put in place information networks, skilled labour and support services. A Department of Trade and Industry spokesman said the report will identify where high-tech clusters are in the UK, and what they demand in terms of locations, housing for workers, transport and infrastructure. But the review is likely to anger environmentalists - especially in Cambridgeshire, which has a projected population surge of 26 per cent by 2021. A recent application by the Wellcome Trust for planning permission to build a science park outside Cambridge was rejected by South Cambridgeshire District Council, on the grounds that the development would create "unnecessary environmental pressures". Last year, government thinktank Demos published a paper called 'Britain, The California of Europe?', which argues that the UK needs to follow the Silicon Valley model. But Dean Bubley, a director of Datamonitor's technology division, said there are some fundamental differences between the UK and Silicon Valley. "Silicon Valley has a huge pool of skilled labour, which just isn't available in Cambridge. Also it's much easier to get venture capital for start-ups in the US. You can't hope to generate a culture which generates money out of academic research overnight." This year, Santa Clara County, in which most of Silicon Valley lies, is expected to announce an 80 per cent fall in new jobs created compared with 1997.