Wirral MP leads fight to stop Wirral Metropolitan college closure

Nov 17 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

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WIRRAL South MP Ben Chapman will today push forward with his campaign to head off plans to shut a college site in his constituency.

He will present a petition to Parliament in an attempt to secure the future of the Carlett Park Campus of Wirral Metropolitan College.

Last night, the college’s principal, Mike Potter, said they were aiming to bring millions of pounds of extra government funding into the borough and “must provide facilities in the area that best meet the needs of all Wirral residents”.

But Mr Chapman said: “Carlett Park has been a centre of excellence. It has a place in the Wirral’s heart and history. The number of signatures demonstrates the level of concern”.

The petition has returned 110 signatures in a short time.

Carlett Park was bought by the Cheshire County Authority in 1948 and was known as West Cheshire Central College of Technology. During the 1950s and 60s, it was one of the top six colleges training people to the level of graduateship of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, a professional qualification equivalent to a university degree.

The MP said: “Carlett Park is a classic example of this and I have been actively campaigning for some time to ensure its continuation as an institute of further education.

“I am pleased with the response of residents and hope that the Minister for Children, Schools and Families will encourage Wirral Metropolitan College to think again.”

The college, which has three sites across the borough, has said “analysis of students’ needs” has led it to believe it should concentrate on the Birkenhead locations.

That is leading many to fear the closure of Carlett Park, in Eastham, which currently has more than 2,000 students and is the college’s only presence in south Wirral.

Mr Potter said: “Wirral Metropolitan College is developing an Accommodation Strategy that could potentially attract millions of pounds of government funding to provide state-of-the-art education and training facilities in Wirral, to serve many generations to come.

“To do this, the college must provide facilities in the area that best meets the needs of all Wirral residents and targets, in particular, areas where the population is in most need of support – analysis and evidence clearly demonstrates this to be in the North Wirral area. “There has been broad support for the college’s proposals and while I understand that Mr Chapman has a petition with 110 names, it is not clear that they represent people who are actually studying or intending to study at Carlett Park.”

liammurphy