COUNCILLORS were left optimistic about the future of mid Cheshire’s college after its principal said she is ‘not saying never’ about providing courses in Northwich.

Warrington and Vale Royal College (WVR), which formed following the merger of Warrington Collegiate and Mid Cheshire College last year, announced it was closing its Hartford campus in March.

Engineering, electrical installation and fabrication and welding will remain in Hartford for 2018-19, while most other courses will move to Winsford and some will move to Warrington.

At a meeting on Thursday night principal Nichola Newton told Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Northwich and Winsford district advisory board that the door is open for future provision in Northwich.

She said: “We are not saying never or no to Northwich – it’s not our intention.

“We have a very specific and immediate financial problem and if we don’t solve it the whole college will keel over.

“There is also a lot of consolidation going on in Warrington as well.”

Mrs Newton told councillors that WVR would complete its estates review next month, and that the college is working closely with local employers to offer apprenticeships and courses that reflect the skills required to be successful.

She added that the college is working hard to get Winsford’s campus ready for the next academic year, while WVR is hopeful that a new engineering and advanced manufacturing facility will be ready for the 2019-20 academic year.

Mid Cheshire College ran a deficit of £2 million in 2017, but Mrs Newton is confident that the merged college will have a brighter financial future.

“Our financial health score is satisfactory, and it certainly wouldn’t be if we were in deficit,” she added.

“If we go forward on the plan we’ve got at the moment, by 2021-22, we should be in outstanding financial health.”

Cllr Val Armstrong, Labour CWAC member for Witton and Rudheath, was a governor at Mid Cheshire College and is now a governor at WVR.

She defended the decision by governors to allow the college to axe its Hartford campus.

“We didn’t go straight to that decision – there were options looked at for other types of estate retention,” she said.

“But that was the one that the finances stacked up with, and to keep a provision in the Vale Royal area, which was of prime importance.”

Mrs Newton left the door open to offering some adult courses at other community venues in Northwich, following a suggestion by Cllr Sam Naylor, Labour member for Winnington and Castle, to offer courses at Barons Quay.

“With the best will in the world we know vulnerable people won’t be able to travel long distances,” Cllr Naylor added.

Councillors were also told that WVR has the sixth best pass rate for further education colleges in the country – a marked improvement on the old Mid Cheshire College.

Following the college’s presentation, Cllr David Armstrong, CWAC cabinet member for legal and finance, said: “What I’ve heard from the professional staff [at WVR] is very impressive.

“I think we need to recognise that there are two areas that the present management team can do nothing about. They can’t do anything about the people who ran this college down.

“They have gone, they’ve taken their nice pay packages and all the rest of it, and it really upsets me that that happens. But they’re history.

“And the other thing is that further education has been under-funded by Governments for years. It’s not a party-political point – certainly in the last 10 to 15 years there has not been enough focus on it.”