BUILDING plans for a new £6.6m college have been approved.

The phased redevelopment of Calderdale College was given the go-ahead by the council’s planning committee.

The college has independently secured finance of £6.6m for phase one of the new proposals which includes a sports hall, fitness suite, dance studio and all-weather pitch to support the college’s growing football, rugby and dance academies.

This new scheme replaces the building programme which was cancelled last year, due to the failure of the Learning and Skills Council’s funding programme which affected colleges throughout the UK.

Calderdale College Principal, Chris Jones said: “This is another step towards realising our ambition of first class facilities for Calderdale students.

“We are now working towards completing the process of appointing a contractor so that we can start on site as soon as possible.”

The planned facilities are also earmarked for community use.

Further work will take place on the entrance and atrium at the Francis Street, Halifax college, which attracts 5,000 students from throughout the region.

A second phase, which is yet to get financial backing, includes a new three-storey teaching block and state of the art IT learning resource centre alongside the new sports hall.