STAFF have given their backing to the merger of Pershore College and Warwickshire College.

A lot of good things could come out of the merger, according to Brian Cook, who has been through a number of mergers with Warwick-shire College.

Mr Cook, programme area manager for horticulture, floristry and silviculture at Warwickshire's Morton Mor-rell Centre, spoke as the colleges moves closer towards a merger on August 1.

Mr Cook started working at Warwickshire College of Ag-riculture 28 years ago. It merged with Mid Warwick-shire College in 1996 and later grew with the incorporation of colleges in Rugby and Henley-in-Arden, building a new centre at Warwick and becoming Warwickshire Col-lege. He said students benefited from a larger student support set-up in the larger college and a move into providing higher education courses.

There was more staff development and area manager training sessions, but it was not a case of lots of new things being imposed.

Mr Cook said: "We never felt swamped. The merged college saw there were some good things going on and adopted some of the things we were doing and that was quite positive. We had to accept things were going to change and the majority of things changed for the better.

"If I look back now, I would have no reservations at all about merging. You expect things to be a dramatic change but they change for the better."

Alan Gardner, head of animal care and staff governor at Pershore College, said: "Pershore's reputation for horticulture and the excellent provision in other specialisms, such as animal care and sport, have been well recognised by Warwickshire College.

"It has given assurances it intends to build on this reputation and invest in a campus and its facilities to ensure financial stability, which can only create a wonderful learning resource and environment for our students."

The merger has to be finally approved by the Government in June.