Pledge: A new Newton Rigg college could be on the cards A NEW independent agricultural college is on the cards for Cumbria. That s the pledge from a group fighting to prevent the 125-year-old Newton Rigg agricultural college from closure in the summer with more than 100 jobs losses. This week the Further Education Commissioner deemed the Penrith college financially unviable and found no suitable bids were received to take it over. More than 500 students and apprentices attend but the FEC said most courses and training could be found elsewhere. Owner Askham Bryan College in York plans to sell the site when it closes in July.
A NEW independent agricultural college is on the cards for Cumbria. That s the pledge from a group fighting to save125-year-old Newton Rigg college from closure in the summer with more than 100 jobs losses. Yesterday the Further Education Commissioner announced it deemed the Penrith college financially unviable and found no suitable bids were received to take it over. More than 500 students and apprentices attend, but the FEC said most courses and training could be found elsewhere. Owner Askham Bryan College in York plans to sell the site when it closes in July. However, chairman of one of two bids submitted in a bid to save the college, Newton Rigg Limited, Professor Andrew Cobb, made the following statement: It’s time to move beyond the Strategic Review. Our financial partners, who share our commitment to Newton Rigg’s future, will now seek to purchase the campus from Askham Bryan thus facilitating our 3-5-year strategy: A new dawn of Newton Rigg-led training a
CAMPAIGNERS hoping to keep an agricultural college open have called on the Government to take action to prevent land or assets from being sold. A strategic review co-ordinated by the government’s further education commissioner, which began in June, turned down two bids to save Newton Rigg College at Penrith from closure. Owner Askham Bryan College had received two bids to take over the site, including a multi-million pound bid from a cross-industry group, known as Newton Rigg Ltd. But the commissioner concluded that neither of the bidding parties met the criteria to secure the long-term success of a potential new college, and it has recommended that the site should close in July 2021, as planned.