I wholeheartedly support Clr Colin Froggatt in his resignation as ‘education boss’ in protest at the Warrington University Technical College.

This is a school that is just not required in Warrington and will have long term damaging effects on the secondary schools already in the area.

Clearly there is more of a hidden agenda to this than we are led to believe, especially when you then read the story published last week where MP Helen Jones is asking for the UTC agenda to be made public. What do they have to hide from the people of Warrington? Warrington Borough Council is backing the new institution along with the University of Chester, which, incidentally, has recently been blocked by the department for education from opening or converting any further academy schools due to its poor standards and lack of improvement in the schools they currently manage.

The only reason the University of Chester has been allowed to back this UTC is because it has done so under a different header organisation.

In Warrington we already have additional engineering education provision provided by the new Future Tech Studio which opens in September. It will provide engineering, IT and business and academic and vocational qualifications at GCSE level and post 16. Plus, Warrington Collegiate and Priestley College already offer courses which will be heavily affected if this new UTC were to open.

To spend such a large amount of money on a school that is not required is ridiculous.

Why not invest that money into existing schools and if additional provision is required to help strength students’ skills, let’s give them those opportunities in their current school or at the Future Tech school?

I fully believe in the concept of healthy competition within any sector, but not at the risk of losing some of our existing schools which will continue to provide provision for students interested in other employment opportunities outside of engineering.

S Simm Fearnhead