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

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

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

West Oxfordshire District Council’s capital reserves are estimated at £60m. However, it is not known how much the council would be prepared to commit.

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 any way, then we would be willing.

“There is no denying the importance of the college’s development.”

Mr Norton added that the money would come from matured investments.

The news of the council’s possible bail-out 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. Mr Cameron said: “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.”

Speaking of his challenge to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to visit the site, Mr Cameron said: “I think he’s off to Chile, when he should be here.” Steve Billcliffe, director of development at the college, said: “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.”

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

witney@oxfordmail.co.uk