Agricultural Science business plan for 2004 / 2005. In 2004 Leszek Borysiewicz, Imperial College's deputy rector informed staff that Wye's Department of Agricultural Sciences was closing and most teaching and research at Wye would end. Provost, Jeff Waage protested then resigned. The sudden announcement was blamed on the department's financial performance; distance between Wye and London, and low academic grades amongst applicants for agriculture courses. Critics argued these were all matters well known to Imperial College before merger. Imperial College scheme In 2005, Imperial College announced it intended to convert Wye College's estate into a research centre for non-food crops and biomass fuels, and that it had support from Kent County Council and Ashford Borough Council. Later accounts included commercial biofuel production facilities on Wibberley Way and BP suggested as putative partner / operator. Leaked documents revealed Imperial College expected to gain £100 million by building 4,000 houses on in the Kent Downs, provoking national as well as local opposition. Imperial College's project team had spent at least £850,000 on external consultants preparing their Wye Park masterplan, and subsequently paid Bell Pottinger to lobby regional and national government in its favour. The plan was seen as a test case for other attempts to build on Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In 2006, Ashford Borough Council withdrew support, and Imperial College abandoned its plans. Campaigners hailed the decision as a key victory preserving the status of protected areas, and Wye as a village. Closure In 2007, the University of Kent ran undergraduate business management courses from Wye College though these were later transferred them to its main campus. The following year science staff relocated from Wye to Imperial College's South Kensington or Silwood Park sites. and in 2009, the last students graduated and Wye College campus closed. Thereafter Imperial College sought to develop the estate, or to find suitable tenants for it. The main village properties were sold to Telereal Trillium in 2015. They sold Squires Hostel as three dwellings; Wolfson Hostel as a site for six houses; the buildings opposite the college on High Street, and the pig, sheep and poultry (Agricultural Field Station / Farm Mechanisation Unit) units sold. In 2021, Telereal Trillium obtained planning permission to convert the traditional college buildings to 38 dwellings. Conditions require public access one day a month to the cloistered quadrangle; Old Lecture Theatre; Old Hall; Parlour, and Jacobean staircase, and use of