STUDENTS from Mid-Kent College handed over a petition supporting a plan for a £50 million campus in Gillingham.

The petition, signed by more than 500 people, supports plans to move the centres in Horsted, Chatham, and City Way, Rochester, to a single site on the Lower Lines.

The petition signed by staff, students and Medway residents was handed over in two boxes to Robin Cooper, director of regeneration and development.

Members of the council’s development control committee will visit the site tomorrow before making a final decision at a meeting on Monday evening.

If plans to re-locate are supported, Mid-Kent College will stand alongside the University of Kent at Medway, The University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church University.

But some local people are unhappy about the plans, claiming the site chosen for development is historic and should not be used for development. Others do not like the plans for a big housing development at Horsted.

College principal Stephen Grix said: “If the council chose not to support the move a £50 million investment in the Medway Towns will be lost.

“Participation in further education among teenagers in Medway is much lower than in the rest of the South East. Building the college on a site next to three universities will encourage people to go on to higher education.

“We need to do something about up-skilling people so they have a chance to get better jobs and improve their lifestyles. The college will transform the area.”

Natasha Perkins, 17, is a performing arts students at the college’s Horsted centre. She said: “We do amazing things at the college but because the building looks a bit tired it might put people off.”

The proposal has already cost the college £1.2 million and they have no plans to appeal if they do not receive planning permission.

Staff will revert to a back-up plan of selling the Horsted centre and extending the City Way site in Rochester instead.

The development control committee is expected to make a final decision on the planning application at a meeting at the Municipal Buildings in Gillingham on Monday evening.