News Date: Tuesday 31st March 2009
Worthing's MPs join forces with town's FE colleges to protest at funding freeze
Worthing's MPs Tim Loughton and Peter Bottomley visited Worthing College and Northbrook College's Broadwater site for crisis talks with the respective principals Peter Corrigan and David Percival and Adur & Worthing Chief Executive Ian Lowrie on Monday. This followed the news that funding for the expansion plans by the two colleges has been frozen by the Learning & Skills Council despite having being agreed in principle and the colleges already having spent substantial sums on planning work. The MPs met the principals at the House of Commons for initial discussions last week and were at the College sites to inspect the dilapidated temporary huts in which much of the education is delivered. They have also organised a meeting to see Higher Education Minister Sion Simon on April 2nd together with Peter Corrigan. David Percival and Ian Lowrie.
Tim commented:‘This news will be a body blow to higher education in Worthing unless we can get it reversed. Northbrook and Worthing College have been delivering education to thousands of local students in wholly inadequate conditions for too long. The Worthing College site was built for 600 students and has expanded by 38% in the last 5 years alone to 1550 and needs to expand further yet 82% of its accommodation has been condemned as poor or very poor by inspectors. Northbrook's Broadwater site was originally built as convalescent blocks for soldiers returning from the First World War.‘This is no way to deliver higher education to students in the 21st century and the colleges have been desperately trying to upgrade their facilities fro the last 12 years. Worthing College and Northbrook are amongst 79 colleges nationally who had their applications agreed in principle only to be told that the budget is overspent and funding is frozen but given the well below average outcomes for education and health in Worthing and Adur we need to be treated as a priority if we are not to fail a whole generation of students. The colleges have been doing everything asked of them by Government and face serious financial problems of the Government renege on their promises and that is just not acceptable for the many thousands of our constituents who study or work at these vital facilities.’
