UP to 30 jobs could go at the College of West Anglia at its campuses in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, and Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. Among other cuts proposed will be the end of a student counselling service and the axing of a pre school and after school club at Wis

UP to 30 jobs could go at the College of West Anglia at its campuses in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, and Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

Among other cuts proposed will be the end of a student counselling service and the axing of a pre school and after school club at Wisbech. The latter is losing �30,000 and is little used by the students and staff for whom it was created but is widely used by local families.

The college announced today that an "unplanned budget deficit" of �1.3 million had forced the college to make the cuts.

The college blamed changes in Government funding for adult training and reduced number of adult students because of the recession.

"The proposals affect 81 posts; however, they also allow for the creation of 53 posts, meaning the number of potential redundancies across the college may be as low as 28," said college spokesman Paul O'Shea.

He said the restructuring was designed to "get the college back in a healthy financial state and create the right structures to take us forward in our plans".

The proposals include a review of the college's management team and the creation of a new unit focused on staff development.

The main aim, said Mr O'Shea, would to be bring "teacher training, continuous professional development and ILT development together".

Mr O'Shea also said some courses which are no longer cost effective would move from the Wisbech land based campus to the recently renovated Cambridge campus at Milton.

He said this would specifically include equine, horticulture, countryside and agriculture courses moving from Wisbech to Cambridge.

"Numbers for these courses are small and improved efficiency and a better student experience can be achieved by centralising the provision at Milton," he said.

Milton had benefited from a recent �4 million investment in new facilities and "it has the additional advantage of a partnership with Anglia Ruskin University to provide land based higher education progression".

Mr O'Shea added: "The animal care provision will remain at Wisbech. There will be transport implications for students and we will need to work with the Local Authority to solve the logistics for second year students and new applicants."

"The college senior management are also committed to doing everything possible to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies that may result from any proposals that are taken forward; this will include enabling at-risk post holders to re-deploy to another suitable post."

Consultation period with staff ends on May 29 and college governors will consider the feedback and any proposed amendments in early June.