CANTERBURY College has won its controversial bid to create a new £50 million super campus on farmland on the outskirts of the city. But the long-awaited decision by the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, Stephen Byers has been met with mixed reactions.

College administrators say they are delighted but protestors who waged a lengthy battle against the scheme have expressed bitter disappointment. The ambitious plan will see the college move from its existing location to land off Nackington Road. The old college site will be sold off for redevelopment and If all goes to plan, the new facility will open in the autumn of 2004.

The new principal Geoff Terry says the decision offers the college an exciting, new future to the benefit of the community.

He stressed: "It means we will have one of the best campuses of any college in the country, ensuring greater opportunity for everyone."

But the chairman of the Langton and Nackington Road Residents Association, Nigel Douglas, said the group was bitterly disappointed. He insisted: "We have never been anti-college but this is just the wrong place for a new campus and will add to Canterbury's already appalling traffic problems."