This college is not meeting its targets and I am not surprised. It is a crumbling dump. My colleagues and I cannot understand why more has not been done to improve its appearance. We have raised this issue with management but they will not explain why the situation is like this.

Outer appearances do attract students and that is why it is essential the Government reconsiders its present policy. Schools can get up to a 100 per cent grant to fund rebuilding but colleges only 35 per cent. The “new” incorporated FE was left with the cast-off structures of 1950s and 1960s community education, with many structures hastily and poorly built. One way is to borrow the money but repaying the debt eats into revenue funding, which is better spent on salaries and education. Selling off land such as playing fields has also been done but not without local opposition. Full funding is the only real answer.

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