Doncaster HS2 college closure kick in the shins says business group

The college opened in 2017, but has not attracted the student numbers it needed to stay afloat

The closure of a Doncaster college which was set up to train HS2 rail engineers is a "kick in the shins", the city's chamber of trade has said.

The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure will close in July due to low student numbers.

Doncaster Chamber CEO Dan Fell said it had suffered due to the government's "flip-flopping" on HS2.

The government said it was committed to HS2 and it was already creating thousands of apprenticeships.

Mr Fell said the decision was not a "fatal blow" to the city's economy, but was a "very unwelcome and untimely kick in the shins".

"We've seen our airport close its doors, we've had a near miss on our bid for a new hospital and a near miss on our bid for the Great British Rail headquarters," he added.

College interim principal Lowell Williams said they had not recruited enough apprentices to remain viable

The college opened in 2017 to teach students the skills to work on HS2 and other major infrastructure projects.

Interim principal Lowell Williams said they were very "disappointed" to have made the decision to close.

"The simple fact is we haven't been able to recruit enough apprentices, apprentices from the rail industry with the support of employers, and without those apprentices, at the end of the day, the college has not been viable."

He said the rail industry was experiencing a "difficult time" and was facing challenges amid wider economic difficulties.

"Perhaps that's just made it difficult for employers to invest in the training that we needed here," he added.

The closure will mean the loss of 42 jobs and about 170 students will be transferred to other institutions.

Billy Camden, a journalist with FE Week, said the college had never been able to attract the student numbers it needed.

"Due to delays in announcing contractors for HS2 it meant employers were unable to commit to the apprentices and people who they wanted in training in the volumes needed," he said.

"Those delays meant it was impossible to recruit enough students to stay afloat."

Dan Fell said the closure was the latest in a series of blows for the city

Gareth Dennis, a railway engineer who has taught at the college, said it had "tremendous facilities" and had been exactly what the industry needed.

"The people it was teaching were not just going into high speed rail but the railways at large," he said.

"There is no commitment to any major rail infrastructure being built beyond HS2 anywhere in the country."

Mr Fell said about 10,000 people were employed in the rail sector in the city, but indecision over HS2 had "hobbled" the college from the start.

"Probably first and foremost is the flip-flopping we've seen from government on HS2 as a project," he said.

A spokesperson for the government said: "We are fully committed to delivering HS2 from Euston to Manchester, and developing future phases in line with the £96bn Integrated Rail Plan.

"HS2 is already supporting thousands of workers and training a more innovative and better-skilled construction workforce, having created more than 1,100 apprenticeships since 2017."