AN Oxfordshire college rebuilding scheme that is hanging in the balance has been given a glimmer of hope with the announcement of an extra £300m in Government funding for capital schemes over the next two years.

Abingdon & Witney College’s £30m plan to dismantle and rebuild its ageing campus was put on hold in December along with other schemes across the country, because funding body the Learning and Skills Council had promised more cash than it had.

Since September, the college is believed to have paid £40,000 a month for 57 temporary cabins into which all 600 full-time students, plus staff, on its Witney campus were moved.

The new cash injection for 2009/10 and 2010/11, as contained in yesterday's Budget, is still well short of the estimated £2.7bn required to meet the LSC’s commitments.

But a spokesman for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills said it would be used for “some of the most important and urgent schemes”.

Abingdon & Witney College will now have to wait until June to find out if its stalled redevelopment plans will be thrown a lifeline.

Sue Webb, assistant principal, said: “We don’t know how the £300m is going to be distributed, but we remain very positive and we feel the Witney campus development is very high on the priority list.”