A WORCESTERSHIRE county councilor has criticised the decision by Warwickshire College Group (WCG) to close Evesham New College in September and is calling for a rethink.
Dan Boatright-Greene (Lib Dem), representative for Pershore division has written to WCG bosses to demand that any profits from the proposed sale of the college should be reinvested back into ensuring the right kind of further education (FE) provision for south Worcestershire.
Councillor Boatright-Greene, himself a former FE lecturer, said: “This situation was inevitable. The group continued to reduce the number of courses since its 2021 refocusing on technical skills and apprenticeships.
“There has been no attempt to build the profile of the college or show any ambition to stay in the town. Now we are left with an Evesham site barely used and ready to be sold off to the highest bidder.”
He has also questioned where the money will go from a future sale. “Will it be earmarked to be invested in FE or will it be yet another asset stripped from the county to prop up Warwickshire?,” he added.
Boatright-Greene also criticised the decision to merge Evesham with Peshore as being shortsighted and added: “Colleges need to meet the local needs. We can’t build a whole new town at Worcestershire Parkway without teaching young people the skills we need in construction.
“If we want our communities to prosper and start new businesses, we need colleges to be teaching the next generation of chefs, plumbers and electricians.
“This should mean a college group based in south Worcestershire, focused on the young people of South Worcestershire and our local economy.
“It is time we focused our attention on what we need, not propping up a college group that has not been able to ensure what local businesses need,” he said.
Worcestershire Lib Dems have set up a petition to protest about the closure here.
WCG has said that the number of students at Evesham has dropped by 60 per cent and some educational provision has already been transferred to Pershore.
Moving teaching to a campus four miles away will create ‘a more positive learning environment’ for students, according to managers.
Evesham College and Malvern Hills College were previously known as South Worcestershire College but were merged with WCG in 2016 in a bid to secure their financial futures.
Controversially, against the wishes of the community, WCG closed its Malvern Hills campus in 2021 with the sale completing on March 5 this year. Evesham College was rebranded Evesham New College in the same year when a large proportion of the college was closed and put on the market.
WCG which is one of the largest further and higher education groups in the West Midlands has suffered from financial difficulty for several years. In December it was saved from going into insolvency by receiving a £1million government bailout.
A spokesperson from WCG had said that the proceeds from the sale of Malvern Hills College will be allocated towards a significant funding clawback to the Education and Skills Funding Agency and loan repayments, in order to ensure that it meets its financial obligations and is able to build a foundation for future growth.
Visit https://wcg.ac.uk/eveshamconsultation for further information and to have your say on a consultation ending Friday, May 30.
