College shares £100m building trades training cash

Wigan and Leigh College started as a Technical Mining College more than100 years ago

A college in Wigan will be one of 10 in the country that have been chosen to train a new generation for work in the building industry.

Wigan and Leigh College will take a share of a £100m funding post aimed to getting thousands of new bricklayers, electricians and carpenters and other trades into the workforce.

Lisa Nandy, the MP for Wigan, said there had been "under-investment" in young people who did not want to pursue academic further education.

The Construction Industry Training Board estimated 61,000 new workers were needed each year to hit the government's target of 1.5 million new homes by 2030.

Every region in England will have a specialist college called a Construction Technical Excellence College.

They will train about 40,000 construction learners by 2029 between them.

Wigan and Leigh College principal, Anna Dawe, said construction was "pivotal" to the economy in Wigan and Greater Manchester.

"This accolade really resonates for a college that started life as a Technical Mining College over 100 years ago, in a borough that now has double the national rate of employment in the construction sector."

Lisa Nandy said Wigan already has a "huge" history of construction expertise and that the investment will help young people across the region

MP Nandy said the investment was a "vote of confidence in young people".

She added: "There are great jobs out there for bricklayers, electricians, carpenters, but for too long the system has been underinvested in and too confusing if your not going down a purely academic route.

"Too many young people have been written off from making the contributions they know they can make, as a government we are determined to change this."