Basildon to seek planning for multimillion-pound college scheme

Plans for a multimillion-pound college campus in Basildon have been given the go-ahead by the government's education funding body.

The town's regeneration bosses said this week that the Learning and Skills Council has agreed that the project, called New Campus Basildon, can proceed to “application in principle” stage, meaning a formal planning application will be submitted to the council next summer.

Basildon Renaissance Partnership said that the centre, designed by Bond Bryan Architects, will be able to open in 2013. Basildon Renaissance unveiled new images of it at this week's Thames Gateway Forum in east London.

The building would provide learning facilities for 16- to 19-year-olds across a wide variety of courses.

Chris Balch, chairman of the Basildon Renaissance Partnership, said the college campus would complement ambitious-town centre regeneration plans. “These images reveal how truly ground-breaking this new college will be, and further proof that Basildon is a place where opportunities come alive,” he said.

Geoff Arnott, principal and chief executive of the college's developer, SEEVIC College, said: “We can now look forward to progressing the building design with our partners to create a leading-edge centre of further and higher education for Basildon that will have a major impact on the lives of our young people.”