WEST Somerset Community College principal Nick Swann has spoken publicly for the first time about the shock of learning that the funding package for Minehead's New Horizons healthplex had collapsed. The college is one of four partners in the ambitious and groundbreaking £51 million scheme, which was to have provided a new community hospital, skills and enterprise centre, rural skills centre and leisure and learning centre with a swimming pool. The project was a partnership between the college, West Somerset Council, Somerset County Council and the Somerset Primary Care Trust (PCT). But less than a month ago the financially crippled district council revealed it could not honour its £11.2 million funding pledge, spelling the likely end of the leisure and learning centre - a key component of the scheme. In a four-page letter to parents, Mr Swann described the news as a "dramatic blow" resulting in the loss of a once in a lifetime opportunity and leaving community leaders to find alternative ways of meeting their commitments to the West Somerset community. "Partnership working offered a genuinely once in a lifetime opportunity because major costs would have been shared across all the statutory partners," he said. "The loss of a partner impacts on all the services because they are integrally linked and because the leisure and learning centre provided the central hub for the whole New Horizons concept." Mr Swann, who has been a key player in the concept of the healthplex for the past eight years, said a major rethink was now needed to see whether any part of the plans for the leisure and learning centre could be salvaged, possibly through a phased approach, and what could be done to provide a swimming pool. He said from the college's perspective, revisiting its plans for arts and media provision, which were closely tied into New Horizons, would be a key priority because existing amenities were very unsatisfactory. Mr Swann said that while it should be possible to retain most elements of the New Horizons scheme, it had to be accepted that the leisure and learning centre was unlikely to go ahead. With the district council - which he described as a very strong and committed partner for many years - unable to meet its share of the costs, the contributions from the other three partners would be needed to provide alternative facilities elsewhere. For example, physiotherapy units which were to have been in the centre would now have to be used in the hospital itself. "It may be that more affordable ideas will emerge in time, although such a high quality integrated approach, which has taken us more than eight years to develop, would be impossible to replicate." In his letter, Mr Swann traces the history of the New Horizons dream and what sparked the hope that it could be achieved. He said although West Somerset was a wonderful place to live, its many positive aspects masked an alarming reality. Many adults were stuck in low income employment, often juggling several jobs and earning barely enough to support their families. Those same adults had few opportunities to improve their skills through training and the situation was made worse by a very fragile local economy, while pockets of real poverty had a significant impact on the wider community. "The reality for many local people is pretty bleak," said Mr Swann. Average weekly earnings were nearly £70 below the national average, while house price to income ratio stood at more than ten to one - the highest outside London. In addition, eight per cent of school leavers each year did not progress to employment, education or training and five West Somerset communities ranked amongst the 40 most deprived areas in Somerset. Mr Swann said New Horizons would have brought together complementary services in one location, providing integrated, innovative, cost effective and efficient delivery service. "We recognised that by working together in a joined up way to share problems, seek solutions and pool our resources, we could achieve so much more than any one agency working in isolation." Mr Swann said around 80 per cent of the funding for the overall New Horizons scheme was coming from outside the district, including European cash and almost £5 million from the Learning and Skills Council to support vocational education and training for young people. Building of the first phase - the skills and enterprise centre - had begun in August last year and the whole project was due to be completed by the end of 2009. "It is therefore a harsh blow to lose West Somerset Council funding for a key element of the project at this very late stage." However, Mr Swann pledged that the skills and enterprise centre and the new college farm were fully funded and on course for completion in August this year. He said the college would do all it could to support New Horizons but sadly its ability to support the wider community, as previously envisaged through the delivery of the whole project, might be more difficult. In a separate letter to parents, chairman of governors at the college Martin McNeill said the start of work on the skills and enterprise centre had been an exciting moment as it was the beginning of seeing a ten-year dream become a reality. But the news of the district council's withdrawal of funding had been a bitter blow to all those who had been working, not just to provide better learning opportunities for college students but to transform the life chances available to all members of the community, particularly the most vulnerable. "College governors have shared the New Horizons vision right from the start and will continue to support college staff as they seek to find an alternative way of delivering the exciting future for West Somerset that New Horizons promises," said Mr McNeill. "It will not be easy but it is something that we must do if our community is to survive and prosper over the next generation."
