ECONOMIC and cultural activities in Hyndburn are being boosted by Accrington and Rossendale College's multi-million pound business.

Councillors have been told that about 65 per cent of the college's £10 million annual budget goes on paying the 200-plus staff and their spending power has a considerable local impact.

The other 35 per cent represented a significant amount of business for local companies supplying goods and services, said college principal Mike Austin, at a meeting of Hyndburn economic development board to give a presentation on the New Deal for young people, which provides training and work for 18 to 24-year-olds who have been unemployed for six months.

Mr Austin said it was impossible to envisage economic development and regeneration without training and education.

Each year the college handles between 15,000 and 20,000 enrolments across a wide curriculum and at all levels, from basic literacy and numeracy, to degree and some post graduate work.

Mr Austin said when the college was inspected at the beginning of last year it was ranked in the top six per cent in the country in terms of grades achieved, he added.

Councillor Joy Beswick said there had been a lot of problems with the staff and she had been unhappy to hear about union workers Pat Walsh and Barbara Stott being sacked without proper consultation.

Mr Austin said inspectors had spent a lot of time talking to staff and at the end of the process had given the college a grade one for staffing and commented on the excellent relationship between staff and managers.

"I regret this as much as everyone. They are in the past and I hope we can move on."

Director of regeneration Nigel Rix, said the college wholeheartedly involved itself in a whole range of activities which contribute to the social, educational and economic well-being of the borough.

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