STAFF at Jodrell Bank will find out if their jobs are safe within the next three weeks.

Bosses at the observatory near Knutsford will this week meet members of the Science Committee to decide the long-term future of the centre.

"We have jumped through all the hoops put in front of us and now I think we are just weeks away," said Dr Philip Diamond. "We are feeling quite upbeat about the situation."

Last week experts from the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council carried out a risk assessment at the science centre and the outcome was 'very positive'.

Bosses have already secured £6million to rebuild the Merlin network, but they hope to win the cash to run the project.

"At the moment we seem to have everything in place to get the money," he said. "But something external could come up that will affect the decision so we'll just have to wait and see."

But he added that after a two-year battle to get funding - and safeguard more than 30 jobs - staff are becoming frustrated by the wait.

"It is very painful that we've had to wait this long," he said on Monday.

"But we have to keep battling on because I believe it will be worth it in the end."

The project would involve linking the Merlin's seven radio telescopes, which stretch from the Welsh borders to Cambridge.

And with new microwave radio lines the network would be 30 times more sensitive, making it as powerful as the Hubble Space Telescope in America.