£25M Sixth Form plans frozen in 'financial crisis'

Artist's impression of new sixth form college

The future of the £25M new Sixth Form College is looking bleak after it emerged the “financial climate” has put plans on hold.

It was revealed in The Times yesterday that at least 42 new college buildings have been put on hold, and according to Paul Rowen MP, Rochdale is one of them.

The Rochdale MP has now organised an emergency summit meeting on Monday (2 February) with Minister for Further Education Sion Simon MP, with the Borough's other MPs - Jim Dobbin and Phil Woolas to discuss the issue and make the case for Rochdale.

Paul Rowen said, "This latest news is a huge cause for concern and with work expected to start in the next few weeks - I am shocked”.

“The LSC has over programmed its budget and Ministers are now reviewing the schemes. I've asked for the meeting to press why Rochdale Six Form College is so important and have been working very closely with the borough's other two MPs to convince Ministers that it should go ahead”.

The Government gave the go-ahead to the new college in august last year.

The MP had had campaigned for the proposed state of the art facilities which were approved by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.