AMBITIOUS plans for a multi-million pound college campus in Ashford catering for as many as 5,000 students have been placed at the heart of a £200million training blueprint for Kent.

The college is a key element of a wide-ranging masterplan for the county aimed at plugging the skills gap and offering better training.

It has been drawn up by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the organisation responsible for planning and organising all post-16 education.

It follows a lengthy series of reviews assessing what is needed across Kent to improve skills training and provide the workforce to needed to fill thousands of jobs.

The Ashford scheme is likely to involve the development of a concept of a “multi-versity” combining sixth-form education, vocational and graduate training.

Schools, colleges and universities would share the campus, providing a range of different courses for students. Partners will be local schools, existing FE colleges and universities.

No decision has been made on where the college will be and it is unlikely to be open for two to three years.

However, the LSC’s backing for plan means that it is certain to go ahead.

Trevor Sandford, of the LSC, said: “It may be that the campus will be spread over two or more sites in close proximity. We have reached the stage of knowing how big it should be and accordingly what sites may be appropriate. The consensus seems to be that it will need to be accessible to as many people as possible and a town centre location would be desirable.”

The plan is being driven by a long-standing concern that staying-on rates in post-16 education in Kent are poor and that the expansion of Ashford and the Thames Gateway under the Government’s growth agenda will create a huge demand for more qualified builders, plumbers and electricians.