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CASH CRISIS FOR ADULT LEARNING
‘KIller blow’ for £20m education centre as government pulls funds
THE funding crisis facing Westminster Council’s adult education service has been revealed after an announcement that the promised £9.2million needed to build a new flagship centre in Marylebone will not be paid.
Finance bosses at City Hall are furious at the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) decision, admitting for the first time in public that the planned £20million supercentre in Moxon Street is now in “jeopardy”.
The council has hit out at government “incompetence”, calling it a “killer blow” to thousands of adult learners who are relying on the service during the recession.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds have already been spent drawing up plans for the centre, off Marylebone High Street, which is fast becoming the council’s white elephant, and was intended to replace to ageing sites in Victoria and Maida Vale which fail to meet new government standards.
Now the council will have to rethink plans to sell-off the two buildings in Ebury Bridge and Amberley Road, with a land value of around £25m, and dig deep into their own coffers to pay for upgrades.
Westminster Adult Education Service made an application to the LSC in 2008, with an agreement “in principle” that the money would be released when planning permission was granted.
But now the LSC has revealed its finances are in tatters, ruling that Westminster along with 143 other building schemes across the country will not receive any cash.
Councillor Edward Argar, Westminster’s cabinet member for adults and community services, has written to the Minister for Business Innovation and Skills, Kevin Brennan, to demand a meeting over the funding U-turn.
He wrote: “I am very disappointed at the decision to cancel funding promised for the Moxon Street adult education centre.
“This decision risks severely limiting the educational opportunities of thousands of adult learners in central London. It sits at odds with the government’s stated aims of improving the life chances of the many Londoners currently in need of education and skills training and comes at a time when the economic recession makes the need for such skills more important than ever.
“We have made clear our intention to contribute funds signficantly in excess of the £9.2m of match funding orginally committed by the LSC. Our willingness to make such a large financial commitment reflects the importance that Westminster ascribes to further education, especially at a time of such economic turbulence. However, our funding commitment has always been contingent upon this LSC grant and today’s announcement, following on from the delays and uncertainties that hve been present througout the process, now puts the future of this project in doubt.
“We are seeking an urgent meeting with you to discuss this decision, so that we can understand the reasoning in withdrawing funding from such an important project, and I ask that you reconsider your decision to the benefit of thousands of Londoners.”
Developers will be rubbing their hands at the announcement, which could open up one of the most coveted plots of land in the capital.
The area’s biggest landowners, The Howard de Walden Esate, are the front-runners to secure it. The debate over what to do with the site has raged ever since the land was the subject of a compulsary purchase from Howard de Walden by the then Greater London Coucnil in 1966 for “educational use”. But with the covenant due to expire in 2011, de Walden could be gearing up to make a bid on the entire site.
An LSC spokeswoman said: “For colleges which have not been selected to proceed this year, the next steps will start this autumn when we will further consult with the sector to agree a robust, fair and transparent process for prioritising the capital investment programme for the next spending review period starting in 2011/12. The size and scope of the programme will depend in large part on the outcome of the next spending review.” |
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