By JOEL SAWYER

DARESBURY lab has been saved from despair as jubilant staff hailed the arrival of a £150 million project on Friday.

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Stephen Byers broke news of the massive scheme to science and business leaders and staff at the lab and was met with a round of ecstatic applause.

Two projects from the Centre of Accelerator Science and Imaging and Medicine (CASIM) centre will be based at the lab, rescuing it from a 'brain drain' and the possibility of job losses.

A black cloud has been hanging over Daresbury ever since it lost a Diamond Synchrotron project last year to its sister lab in the south.

The loss sparked a row over a north-south divide but vigilant staff vowed to fight for projects and funding to save the lab. And Mr Byers paid tribute to their efforts in announcing the CASIM projects, saying: "It would have been the easiest thing in the world for people to say we've had enough, we're not coming out to play, we won't get a fair say. But instead they rose to the challenge."

One of the campaign's leading lights, Vinnie Goulding was delighted with the news.

He said: "It's fantastic. This is justice day for Daresbury. I'd like to thanks the MPs and my colleagues and all the people in Warrington, Widnes and Halton who signed the petitions. They've all been champions in the cause."

The two elements of CASIM coming to Daresbury are a £50 million Fourth Generation Light Source and a £100 million Proton Cyclotron. They will keep the lab at the cutting edge of international research, delving into areas like the treatment of cancer, better knowledge of the earth itself and even the "big bang".

It will be based on partnerships with UMIST, Liverpool and Manchester Universities.

Helen Southworth, MP for Warrington South, said: "I'm delighted by the announcement. It's going to mean a secure future for Daresbury and science in the north west.

"The region is now going to get the share of the investment that it deserves but also it means that the relationship between the universities of UMIST, Liverpool, Manchester and Daresbury Laboratories will be recognised as a centre of excellence in the same way as Oxford and Cambridge."