THIS is what Abingdon and Witney College’s campus in West Oxfordshire would look like under scaled-down plans reviving a lost project.

As revealed yesterday in the Oxford Mail, the college has applied for planning permission for a £7.5m rebuilding and refurbishment programme for the Witney campus, a year after original plans were crushed when the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) withdrew £28m in funding.

Work had already started on the rebuild after the LSC approved the original scheme in principle, meaning staff and students have spent the past year in temporary buildings.

The Skills Funding Agency, the body that replaced the LSC, has pledged £1m, with the college funding the rest, predominately through borrowing.

The plans are a scaled-down version of the original redevelopment, but the college said it would be able to offer the same level of services as the original designs.

Vice-principal Di Batchelor said: “We are not downsizing in terms of what we are giving students. At the end of the day, students care about what’s inside.”

The original plan was to build one new building on site, but the new proposal is to build a smaller building and to “completely refurbish” two existing buildings.

Revamping the existing buildings, scaling back on design elements and not building on the college’s steep slope, where the original building was to be erected, all saved the college money and allowed the plan to go ahead.

Ms Batchelor said: “We feel we have done absolutely brilliantly to get ourselves to the point where we know we will have something we are really proud of.

“We have had to rethink how we get the same for less money.

“We currently hope we have achieved that.”

The new buildings will include TV and radio studios, including editing suites, two beauty salons and two hairdressing salons, as well as art and design studios, science labs, and library and IT facilities.

Ms Batchelor said that although the college would be borrowing a lot, the college was a financially stable institution and the borrowing would be the same amount as it would have had in the original plan.

She said: “The board of governors reflected carefully on a sensible level of borrowing to ensure that students are still getting the best possible education in the best possible environment.”

Ms Batchelor addded: “Being in the temporary buildings has been better for the students and us because the old buildings were so terrible.”

A decision on the planning application will be made by West Oxfordshire District Council by December 8, 2010.

  • ROLLERCOASTER RIDE

    March 2008 – Witney’s college campus attracts one of the highest ever funding grants from the Government, almost £30m.

September 2008 – Staff and students moved into temporary classrooms ready for the rebuild.

November 2008 – Bulldozers move on to site.

December 2008 – The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) said was reviewing college projects following the economic downturn.

January 2009 – College announces the redevelopment will go ahead.

March 2009 – Plans put on hold after the LSC runs out of money.

March 2009 – Witney MP David Cameron raises the issue in the House of Commons.

March 2009 – Work due to start on the demolition of the old buildings.

June 2009 – The LSC said it could no longer fund the project.

July 2009 – The college asks for a refund from the LSC, after spending £5m on the rebuild.

November 2009 – The college considers funding a scaled-down scheme itself.