Anger as Skelmersdale college rebuild scheme scrapped

Jul 2 2009 by John Siddle, Skelmersdale Advertiser

THE government was last night slammed for backtracking on a promise to fund the £40m rebuild of Skelmersdale and Ormskirk College.

Furious education chiefs and politicians vented their anger at Gordon Brown, whose party has refused to hand over cash that would have created a world-class educational facility on Northway.

Instead, education chiefs’ visionary plans are today left in tatters after Whitehall- backed quango, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) went back on its pledge to deliver the grant.

It means that hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers money was spent on preparatory work for a project that will not see the light of day until at least 2011 – but almost certainly longer.

Work was meant to have begun earlier this year to build a new three-storey college building, connected to another two-storey building, by 2010.

Plans for the new college had included hairdressing salons, a bistro and new sports facilities.

But, as it stands, its 1300 ambitious students will continue to be taught the current facilities on Yewdale.

A college spokesman said: “We are very disappointed that our building projects have not been included in the recent list of colleges awarded capital funding.

“However, at this stage, we have not given up hope that a solution can be found.”