A CASH boost of almost £25m has been awarded to Abingdon and Witney College to help it build eco-friendly buildings.

As reported in the Gazette last month, the £24.8m grant from the Learning and Skills Council is equivalent to 87 per cent of the cost of a £30.5m project to rebuild Abingdon and Witney College's Witney campus.

Most college building projects get just 40 to 50 per cent from the Government, and are expected to raise the rest themselves through selling off land and moving to new sites.

Steve Billcliffe, the college's development director, said: "It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for West Oxfordshire." Plans for the new college, which was formed in 2001, are on display around Witney, and people are being invited to comment through the planning process.

If approval is gained, planning work on the site could start as early as June. Mr Billcliffe added: "We are going to have to borrow the rest from the bank on a mortgage, but this level of grant means we will be able to stay where we are. It is an expensive build and it is going to take three years to complete, but at the end of it we will have a state-of-the-art campus."

When the campus is built, new catering and hairdressing courses will be on offer in addition to updated computer, media, film and music technology facilities.

The development will include new student accommodation across almost 7,500 square metres, including almost 500 square metres of specialist accommodation for students with higher-level learning support needs.

As part of the development, the redundant Welch Way ambulance station - which has already been purchased by the college - will be bulldozed to open up a walkway into the campus.

Witney has 600 full-time students, aged 16 to 18, and about 2,000 adult and part-time learners, with a staff of about 200.

Source: Witney Gazette