I don’t know that the local partners who collaborated with David Melville in closing Bilston Community College, namely Wolverhampton Borough Council, Wolver-hampton University and the local Chamber of Commerce, will be too pleased that he invokes their names in his support (FE Focus, Letters, March 16). They have had time to consider the following objections:
* The college was the most important deliverer of education in the country to ethnic minority people and its closure was a gross act of institutional racism. It will cost around pound;60 million to close it.
* Te setting up of Wolverhampton College occurred through a series of dubious measures which call into question its legitimacy.
* The present governors have failed to meet recruitment targets, the needs of either their staff or the local community. Their blatant attempts to stifle all criticism - exemplified by their bid to threaten and then eject from the annual meeting the 82-year-old spokesperson of the Friends - suggest they are not fit to govern the college.
Dr George Barnsby
Spokesperson
Friends of Bilston Community College, Wolverhampton
