WEST Oxfordshire District Council has said it would be willing to help fund the shelved £30m redevelopment of the Witney and Abingdon College campus in Holloway Road, Witney.

Council leader Barry Norton said while he still remains hopeful of persuading the Government to free up funds, alternative avenues had to be explored.

The Learning and Skills Council announced two weeks ago that the project had been put on hold indefinitely, along with 78 other similar schemes around the country following the economic downturn.

But on Friday, it emerged council bosses would be prepared to put their hands in their pockets to held speed up the process.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s capital reserves are estimated at £60m.

However, it was not known how much the council would be prepared to plough into the scheme.

Mr Norton said: “This is not money that we could just give away as a grant, there would have to be proper terms laid out for it as an investment.

“But if we could help out in anyway then we would be willing to do that. There is no denying the importance of the college’s development to Witney and the surrounding areas.”

Mr Norton added that the money would come from matured investments, which make up part of the council’s reserves.

The news of the council’s possible bail out of the development came on the day that Conservative leader and Witney MP David Cameron visited the campus — his first constituency engagement since the death of his six-year-old son Ivan.

Speaking about the news of the council’s proposal, Mr Cameron said: “What this says is that the Learning and Skills Council, which is an arm of Government, is completely incompetent.

“Thank god the Conservative-controlled district council, a tiny council but one that has been well run, is offering to ride to the rescue of the Government and help out.”

Speaking of his challenge to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to come down and visit the site, Mr Cameron said: “I think he’s off to Chile, when he should be here seeing what is going on.

“We are in the depth of a recession, we need skills, we need training and we need colleges.”

Steve Billcliffe, director of development at the college, said the news of the districts council’s possible aid was very encouraging — and welcomed its involvement.

He added: “We want to work with the Government to find a solution, but this has raised the political temperature hopefully for this project to get the go ahead.

“Every step of this development was done in conjunction with consultation with the LSC and all we want is to give Witney first rate facilities for its higher educational needs.

“This development will offer places to an extra 150 students and is essential to the growth of the town.”

LSC spokesman Steven Heaton said: “We are not prepared to comment on this matter until we have drafted a formal response.”