MP Dave delighted by college cash victory (From St Helens Star)

MP Dave delighted by college cash victory

5:20pm Thursday 2nd July 2009

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THE second phase of St Helens College’s multi-million pound redevelopment will go ahead after the Government granted financial backing for the scheme.

The news allays fears the project would be scrapped because of funding crisis at the Learning and Skills Council.

St Helens North MP Dave Watts (seen right) confirmed that the second stage of the college rebuild will be given the green light.

The MP conceded that the project’s budget had been “trimmed” somewhat, however, the news secures a crucial town centre regeneration scheme.

But he believes the “final part of the development can be achieved without any real reductions in the overall quality of the building”.

St Helens is reportedly one of only 14 of college 144 rebuilds which have been approved since all further education building programmes were frozen some months ago.

This was the result of a fiasco that had seen too many redevelopments approved in relation to available funding.

Watts, the Labour MP for St Helens North, and his colleague, St Helens South MP Shaun Woodward, have both lobbied strongly that the town-centre campus should win approval.

College principal, Pat Bacon, joined Watts for a meeting with Government ministers to set out the “practical and educational problems” for St Helens if the final stage of redevelopment did not go ahead.

A delighted Mr Watts said students in St Helens would benefit from one of the finest Further Education colleges in the country.

He said: “St Helens College is vitally important to the town’s future development and it already provides a wide selection of high quality courses for individuals and businesses.

“The completion of the college will allow the college staff and students to work in a modern building fit for the 21st century.”

• The £31.5m first phase of the college redevelopment is nearing completion.

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