Three London further education colleges have announced plans to work towards creating a formal alliance.

City of Westminster College, the College of North West London and Kensington and Chelsea College have agreed “to explore opportunities and work together in a strategic alliance”.

The move comes as further education and sixth-form colleges across the country consider their futures ahead of a wave of area reviews of post-16 education. 

The plans also follow proposals for closer cooperation between six other London colleges earlier this year. In August, Greenwich Community College and Bromley College of Further & Higher Education agreed to work towards a merger, while Barking & Dagenham College and Havering College of Further & Higher Education have agreed a strategic alliance.

In July, City and Islington College and neighbouring Westminster Kingsway College also started exploring closer collaboration with the potential for a merger.

The consultation process over the latest link-up between the three colleges begins today.

The chairs of each college - Jan Knight, College of North West London; Nick Martin, City of Westminster College; and Naraindra Maharaj, Kensington and Chelsea College - issued a joint statement on the alliance. They said: “We are tremendously excited about the potential for developing closer collaboration across the three colleges.

“At the heart of our intention is to do what is best for each and every student. For us, it means developing innovative ways of delivering exceptional training to our students, which builds on our collective strengths and seeks out new partnership opportunities across London.”