Councillors back £70m college

The Middlesbrough College will be part of the Middlehaven regeneration plan. The five-storey building will have the capacity to house up to 17,000 students and 1,000 staff.

College principal John Hogg told Middlesbrough planning committee the scheme would deliver an enviable standard of education in a specially-designed building.

He said: "The embryonic idea goes back five years for this project. Over those years, there have been many designs in terms of aspiration. Now we have come up with a college that is the future for education.

"Today is a seminal moment and I would urge the council to support it."

But Dennis Lane, who has campaigned for years about the toxic silt on the Middlehaven site, called for the plans to be scrapped for fear of risking students' health.

He said: "In 2001, part of the dock waters were reclaimed and this huge amount of treated silt was used as an infill, covered over with several feet of stones. I am sure the contaminated silt is as potent and deadly now as the day it was taken out of the dock waters.

"It is intended the Middlesbrough College will be built directly on the infill site. I cannot visualise how permission can be granted for the college to be based on the Middlehaven site, putting at risk the health of 17,000 students."

But the council's lead planning officer, Ernie Vickers, reassured members of the planning committee that the site had received the all-clear from the Environment Agency following extensive checks.

Councillors voted in favour of the scheme, and also granted permission for a car park extension on the site.

The college, which will cover 30,000 square metres, will cater for a variety of vocational qualifications as well as offering students the chance to study for their A-levels.

It has teamed up with Tees Valley Regeneration to develop the ambitious scheme, to start next year and be completed in time for the student intake for 2008.