Whatever you may think about the prospect of new houses being built in your back yard, the fact remains that the supply of new homes for Oxfordshire's burgeoning population remains woefully behind government targets.

Another inescapable fact remains: the skilled plumbers, joiners, bricklayers, roofers and carpenters needed to build the extra houses, let alone maintain them, hail from Poland and other points east because British training is also falling woefully behind Government targets.

Last year 170,000 new UK homes were built, against a Government target of 250,000. In Oxfordshire, National House Building Council (NHBC) figures actually record a 14 per cent drop in new house-starts over the last two 12-month periods; a trend that could be continuing, since starts in the first two quarters of 2006 total 1,085, down from 1,134 last year.

There is no comfort on the training side either: nationally the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) reckons 87,000 extra trainees a year, on top of those already joining the industry annually, will be needed between now and 2010 to keep up with demand.

No target figures for trainees are available for Oxfordshire alone, a county where demand for houses is particularly heavy, but it must bode ill for the future that the principal training college for youngsters entering the building trade, OCDA (Oxford Cooperative and Development Agency) in Kidlington, has gone into administration, for reasons that are not entirely clear.

Projected growth in Oxfordshire households for the two decades until 2026 is 25.5 per cent, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; well above the 21.5 per cent figure for the South East as a whole.

Other than OCDA, there is now only one college, Oxford and Cherwell, offering such training; Abingdon and Witney stopped offering it earlier this year. The OCDA helps about 300 students a year into careers in the building trade, many of whom are youngsters who have not done particularly well at school.

Tutor and assessor at OCDA, Tim James, said: "Some of the lads arrive with hoods and all. We feel we are giving them an opportunity in life that they would not find anywhere else. It would be tragic if this place were to close down."

Administrator Anthony Harris, of accountants Critchleys, says that such a Domesday scenario is not impossible, but adds that he is negotiating with a potential buyer - or perhaps the college could be saved through a Corporate Voluntary Arrangement, whereby creditors receive only a proportion of the money owed to them.

In any case, young apprentices and trainees, some of whom transferred from Abingdon and Witney College when finances caused it to close its building courses, are left scratching their heads.

Roger Keylock, 18, an apprentice who is released by his employeer to attend the OCDA each week, said: "Personally, if this place were to close, I would not lose my job, but I know people who might lose theirs. But it would mean that half of what I am learning would no longer be available."

He added that his GCSEs, obtained from Wheatley Park school, were "not awful but not good" and that the college had helped him find an apprenticeship after he joined the college's Programme Led Path (PLP).

Craig Hobbs, also 18, went further. He said that he joined the PLP course, specially designed for people without jobs who were looking for apprenticeships with employers, and had found the college to be a lifeline.

He said: "They went far beyond the call of duty for me here. They welcomed me and even helped me to find accommodation. I really don't know what I shall do if this place closes down."

The college is funded by the Learning Skills Council, which is due to carry out a review next month. Contract manager Vanessa Cover explained that the college was now in a "positive" position, in that it had more learners registered than it was now being paid for and would therefore receive cash after the review - if it survives that long.

As for that Polish plumber, his presence surely begs questions. Is it healthy for the UK to be dependent on skills brought here from eastern Europe; what happens if that plumber decides to go back home; and what effect is his move to Britain having on his own economy?

Big questions. Mr James, 53, who says he is not worried about his own future after 34 years in the trade but is worried about the future of his students, would only say: "I teach them that the Polish plumber is a threat to their jobs and that it is my role to make sure they are better than him."