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Farmer Network and YFC have been told to vacate their offices at the closure-hit Newton Rigg Campus, near Penrith
Homeless: Young Farmers Club and the Farmer Network have to vacate offices by the summer TWO Cumbrian organisations are now faced with being made homeless when the Newton Rigg campus closes this summer. Both the Farmer Network and Cumbria Federation of Young Farmers Club have been told by owners York-based Askham Bryan they must vacate offices they have on the Penrith campus no later than July31. Farmer Network managing director Adam Day said: “Very sadly, the demise of Newton Rigg College seems inevitable. Penrith is an ideal central base for the Farmer Network, and we would like to ensure that we have good access for those members who need to visit the office for meetings and to benefit from other types of support that we offer.”Cumbria YFC County chairman Neil Curr commented that: “As a community, Cumbria YFC is absolutely devastat
Calls for Government to step in over future of Newton Rigg
The Government must intervene to save Newton Rigg says the consortium behind plans to keep land-based education in Cumbria.
Newton Rigg Ltd, which wants to open a new college on the existing campus near Penrith, says operator Askham Bryan College is ‘robbing Cumbrian Peter to pay Yorkshire Paul’.
In a statement released this afternoon, it said there was outcry over the college’s plans to sell Newton Rigg’s land and farms but it was still fighting for Government intervention.
A spokesman said: “We must not let the wool be pulled over our eyes.
Newton Rigg Campus CUMBRIA’S only agricultural college is to go on the market next week, along with its two farms. The owners of Newton Rigg confirmed that college staff had been informed on Thursday that Newton Rigg campus and Sewborwens Farm, in Penrith, and Low Beckside Farm, in Mungrisdale were being put up for sale through Savills Estate Agents from Tuesday, May 4 onwards. Remaining college staff, it is believed, were being given notice today, while the Farmer Network and the Cumbria Federation of Young Farmers, have been told they must leave by July 31. Bosses, York-based Askham Bryan claim they are legally able to continue with the Newton Rigg Campus closure and sale, and strongly denied asset stripping claims saying they had invested £4.4 million in capital and bore substantial losses supporting the site.
A community organisation fighting the closure of Newton Rigg has said “key questions must still be answered” regarding its closure.
Newton Rigg Ltd, which describes itself as “an expert-led community organisation”, said “key questions must still be answered” regarding Askham Bryan College’s proposed closure and sale of Newton Rigg College’s assets, land and farms.
The York-based college has announced its intention to market the assets for sale from May 4.
A spokesman from Newton Rigg Ltd said: “Thursday’s letter from the chairman of the EFRA Committee to the Secretary of State not only highlighted the wider importance of land-based education but clearly outlined many of the critical questions that must still be answered regarding Askham Bryan College’s proposed sale of Newton Rigg, one of the country’s most important and longest-standing agricultural colleges, as well as the ‘policy mistake’ that placed these precious Cumbrian assets at risk when they w