Multi-million pound loan for East Lancashire college (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Multi-million pound loan for East Lancashire college

2:00pm Tuesday 27th October 2009

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ACCRINGTON and Rossendale College has been given a multi-million-pound boost after a deal struck between bankers.

The college is among 24 further education centres across the country to benefit from a new loan facility to pay for major improvements.

The agreement, between Barclays Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB), means FE colleges can reduce the cost of borrowing for capital projects costing up to £16million.

The issue of college improvements has been brought into the spotlight recently after the debacle of the Learning and Skills Council’s funding programme.

This saw Blackburn College miss out on £48million funding it had been promised for a major redevelopment.

And last week the government suggested the institutions would not be given compensation.

But Accrington and Rossendale is in a healthier position, according to principal Stephen Carlisle.

The college borrowed £5.2million from the Barclays “EIB Loan Support for Education” scheme to develop its campus.

Mr Carlisle said: “We utilised the funds to build our fantastic new multi-million-pound campus which includes a new dance studio, industry-standard theatre, hair and beauty salons, TV studios and much more.”

As part of the deal, the college was given an up-front payment of almost £90,000 towards the set-up costs and to help with repayment."

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