College governors decision delay

The Welsh College of Horticulture overlooks the Dee Estuary at Northop

A decision on the future of the governors of a Flintshire college has been delayed for at least two weeks.

The board of the Welsh College of Horticulture are facing removal after ministers lost confidence in their ability to manage its finances.

BBC Wales' Dragon's Eye programme understood the unprecedented intervention was to be made on Friday.

But the assembly government is now looking at a submission, a process which would take at least two weeks.

An assembly government spokesperson said its discussions with the Northop college were confidential.

"We will not comment further on them, other than to confirm that Welsh Assembly Government received a submission from the governors yesterday which it will now consider in detail," added the spokesperson.

"This process will take around two weeks.

"In the meantime, we want to stress that our intention in pursuing the discussions with the governors is to ensure the long-term future and stability of excellent education and training opportunities for people pursuing careers in the horticulture industry."

Questions

Janet Ryder, who speaks for Plaid Cymru on education, previously said the assembly government had already lined up a replacement board of governors to run the college, at Northop.

"They have already approached people to form a new board of governors and that draws many questions over this whole process, and raises questions over how much consideration the minister is going to give to the (governors') response," she said.

"I would urge him to consider the governing body's response very carefully," she told Dragon's Eye.

The programme said the assembly government had accused the board of mismanagement.

The college offers residential accommodation for 36 people

The governors were accused of a failure to safeguard the college's solvency, to provide reliable and consistent financial information to the assembly government, weaknesses in governance and management, and financial problems dating back to 2000.

The college has recently applied to extend its overdraft facility to �300,000, months after promising it would not exceed a limit of �200,000.

Plans to merge the college with another college have long been seen as a cure to its financial problems.

Governors favour a merger with NEWI in Wrexham, and a report commissioned by the college recommended such a merger back in January.

Other independently commissioned reports have concluded that a merger with Deeside College is the best option, which is supported by the assembly government.

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