WE are beginning to pay the price for the incompetence of the Learning and Skills Council which bungled the new Fenland campus for the College of West Anglia. Budget cuts of �1.2million now announced by the college reflect the crisis that has engulfed fur

WE are beginning to pay the price for the incompetence of the Learning and Skills Council which bungled the new Fenland campus for the College of West Anglia.

Budget cuts of �1.2million now announced by the college reflect the crisis that has engulfed further education in North East Cambridgeshire as well as elsewhere.

In Wisbech there is the shock of not only discovering the college plans to axe a day nursery (to save a negligible �30,000) but there is the likelihood of closing all land-based and equine studies and shifting them to Milton, near Cambridge.

Ironically, had the funding not collapsed, we would now be celebrating the transfer of equine and horticultural studies to March, but that's not to be. Milton is getting not only the senior team responsible for equine studies but also getting the head grounds man from the Wisbech campus.

To compound the anger felt by most people in Fenland, there was the spectacle of last weekend's open day at Wisbech being cancelled whilst this coming Saturday's open day at Milton goes ahead.

And it doesn't stop there. Milton's to get a campus director (reflecting its increased status in the college hierarchy) and to add insult to injury Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge stage managed a photo shoot with the College of West Anglia last week to promote an equine degree now available. They took horses on to Parkers Piece to promote the new degree - and the new partnership.

If no funding is found for the new Fenland campus, then we fear not only a downgrading of the Wisbech campus, but increased expansion of Milton (where �4million was found to upgrade the site) and meanwhile NOTHING for March.

We implore our readers not to underestimate the threat to further education in Fenland posed by these latest revelations: we are keeping our 'where's our bloody college' petition open for another fortnight so please consider signing it today.