Almost £4m in capital funding has been secured by Lambeth College to carry out the ‘Phase 2’ redevelopment of its Clapham centre.
Having recently been granted planning permission from Lambeth Council for the development of a new sports hall, learning resource centre, nursery, health and social care facilities and a Healthy Gourmet Café for LLDD learners, this latest Government funding is set to form part of a £12m investment.
Lambeth College launched Phase 1 of its redevelopment strategy in 2013, which saw the unveiling of London’s first Learning Street, featuring a hair and beauty salon, spa, training kitchens, restaurant and theatre. The vast and unique range of facilities enabled the College to be credited as London’s first Careers College, offering young learners practical experience in managing their own business and enterprise.
The funding, granted by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), will allow for the completion of ‘The Street’ which will be equipped with new facilities supporting curriculum areas of sport, travel and tourism, uniformed public service, health and early years as well as provision for adult skills and Learners with Learning Difficulties and/ or Disabilities (LLDD).
Chuka Umunna MP, whose constituency covers Clapham, said: “I have been happy to support Lambeth College’s plans to create new vocational facilities and complete the redevelopment of their excellent Clapham Centre. I am delighted that the College has received this funding, which will help local young people to develop the skills they need to succeed in their future careers.”
Mark Silverman, principal and chief executive of Lambeth College, said: “I am delighted that we can now push on to secure completion of the Clapham redevelopment project; a major milestone, allowing us to continue firmly on the path towards becoming an outstanding Careers College.”
The College is in support of the Government’s agenda to increase employability by 2015, with a strong stance on developing the skills of young people in areas relevant to business and employers.
This announcement comes after plans for the Brixton Hill campus of Lambeth College include the site being redeveloped as a free school.
So, if I’ve got this right, far from cutting provision for jobless youngsters, Lambeth College is massively expanding its vocational training with the help of an extra £12m capital money from the government. And instead of running its courses in a set of leaky old shacks on Brixton Hill, it’s now going to house most of them in an all-singing, all-dancing ‘learning street’ in Clapham and the rest in a new building on Brixton Hill to be paid for out of the proceeds of selling the rest of the site to the DfE for a new school. Sounds like win-win all round.
So why have the unions been lying about this since last May?
Why did they say there would be 30-40 compulsory redundancies, when there now appear to be zero?
Why were there all those demos, lobbies and propaganda majoring on the theme that LC was radically curtailing their services? And why are the same activists kicking off about the free school?
I won’t believe a word they say again.