AN MP has criticised delays in completing a flagship college.
MP Barry Sheerman toured Kirklees College’s new campus at the Waterfront and was full of praise for it.
But he said delays by the private sector contractors were “poor”.
The £74m campus on a site alongside the River Colne and Huddersfield Narrow Canal should have been in use by thousands of students from last September, but it was pushed back 12 months.
Mr Sheerman said: “It was just wonderful, it’s really going to change the town, there’s the amazing modern campus environment and there’s a walkway for the public which opens it up.
“I think it’s a new chapter for high quality further education in Huddersfield.”
But he had less praise for the delays which meant the college couldn’t open on time.
“If someone had told me the private sector could not deliver on time I would never have believed them,” the MP said. “People put the private sector versus public sector argument forward, well look what’s happened here.
“But I’ve every confidence in (college principal) Peter McCann and his team that they will do something really wonderful at the campus.”
The college’s existing campus off New North Road is being marketed for sale when the college vacates the site this summer.
