LABOUR councillors are calling on the county council to step in and buy Malvern Hills College to prevent it from closing.

The college is due to close in August after bosses said it was too expensive to keep open with many students moving to courses in other parts of the county.

Malvern Hills College has now been listed as an asset of community value, through the work of the Malvern Hills College SOS Task Group, and Labour county councillors are now calling on Worcestershire County Council to use compulsory purchase powers to save it from closure.

Labour group leader Cllr Robin Lunn said the college must not be allowed to fade away.

“We believe in adult education and we believe the college has a future, under local authority control it could become a shining light in vocational and artistic education which will help people who have been left unemployed by the Covid crisis, we need to offer new opportunities and lifelong learning, which would be part of such a plan for the future,” he said.

“In short, this college must be maintained and not allowed to fade away.”

Cllr Lunn has called for a meeting with county council bosses to discuss the plan.

“We hope this can be an all-party objective to secure the college, keep it in public hands and to grow and encourage adult education in Worcestershire,” he added.

Warwickshire Colleges Group (WCG) revealed Malvern College would be closing in August following a review with students on vocational courses such as hairdressing moved to Evesham College.

The college has been temporarily reopened for some students to complete courses after their studies were disrupted by the Covid pandemic and lockdown measures.

WCG chief executive Angela Joyce said the college had not been financially viable for a number of years and the decision to close was brought on by cuts to funding and falling numbers.

The Malvern Hills College SOS Task Group, set up by Malvern councillors Beverley Nielsen and Tom Wells, held talks with bosses at WCG over the future of the college at the end of last year.

The group has since announced it has raised £850,000 to buy the building with the offer being made by the Worcestershire Community Foundation.

Worcestershire County Council said it is putting together a business plan to support Malvern College in the future.

The plan would look at offering courses to people outside of Malvern including young adults with special educational needs and disabilities and parents looking at further training and work.

Labour county council Richard Udall said: “We hope to be able to use the college as new home for our adult education team, they do a marvellous job helping people with improving their skills and knowledge; the college would make an ideal location to enable them to share and provide their services to even more people.”

Labour town councillor Samantha Charles welcomed the call and hoped the county council would take the opportunity to make saving the college a reality.