EXPANSION plans at South Devon College have been dealt a massive blow after it missed out on £15million in funding.

The money was crucial to the college's hopes to launch a £23million programme to build five new facilities on its Paignton campus.

The £15million cash pot from the Learning and Skills Council would have formed the majority of the college's £23million project. The decision has been described as a 'bitter disappointment' by college deputy principal Stephen Criddle (pictured).

Now plans will have to be delayed for at least two years after the LSC announced the Paignton-based college was not on its shortlist in the latest round of Further Education Capital programme.

The LSC only selected 13 further education building projects out of 180 around the country to go through to the next phase of development.

It means South Devon College will have to scale down or put on hold four of its five new buildings.

Bosses at South Devon College said the blow would have a huge impact not only on the future growth of the college but on jobs in the Bay.

Deputy principal Mr Criddle said the news was a bitter disappointment for all at the college and its 14,000 part and full-time students.

He said: "We are very disappointed by the LSC's decision. What we have not been given is the details behind the decision not to support Torbay and the colleges in the South West.

"We're going to meet with the LSC next week to talk through which part of our project can be moved forward and which part will have to wait for the next round of funding."

However, Mr Criddle insisted the project would not be scrapped.

He added: "We're not going to drop our project whatsoever. We'll just phase it in.

"It will not impact on the number of students coming to the college because we had contingency plans in place to welcome students while work was supposed to get underway.

"However, it could reduce the number of students in the future and will certainly have a big impact on job creation in the construction industry in the Bay."

The college had hoped to extend its automotive building, develop a new sports centre which would have included an all-weather facility.

There were also plans for a new environmental and land-based site and an electrical and engineering centre.

Mr Criddle said the higher level skills building, which forms part of South Devon College's new landmark plan, would still go ahead thanks to financial support from the South West Regional Development Agency and Plymouth University.

LSC officials said colleges which had missed out this time round could re-apply for funding in the autumn.

Geoff Russell, the LSC chief executive, said they would further consult with colleges to agree a 'robust, fair and transparent process' for prioritising the capital investment programme for 2011/12.

He said: "The size and scope of the programme will depend in large part on the outcome of the next Spending Review.

"Many colleges have incurred development costs for projects which will not now be going ahead in the short term.

"We have a contingency fund to mitigate the impact of potential aborted costs on the financial health of colleges.

"This will be limited to those appropriately incurred within the terms of the capital programme."

Mr Criddle added: "We were led to believe that we were ahead of the queue with our project. Why the change of heart?

"The aim of the LSC is to provide best value for tax payers' money projects as well as the widest number of projects possible.

"We had one of the smallest projects and we were also the most ready to progress.

"Choosing only 13 projects and none in the South West doesn't really show an incentive for further education colleges in our region.

"We need to know how the LSC has arrived at their decision. We think the process lacked transparency.

"We may be looking to challenge the LSC's decision."

More than £300million of capital investment in further education was announced in the Budget 2009 as part of a fiscal stimulus package.

Government officials said more than 700 projects had benefited from cash since 2001.

However, the decision by the LSC to ignore the South Devon College project which would created many jobs in the construction industry, has led to huge criticism.

Cllr Chris Lewis, deputy mayor for Torbay, said: "It's very disappointing. The problem is the state of the economy we're in.

"The Government has spent money propping up the banks which means that good causes like the college and others are feeling the fall-out of the credit crunch.

"This would have created real jobs in the construction industry in the Bay and developing skills for people of South Devon which are much needed."

He added: "I'm sure the college will find an alternative and it will remain a good college."

Bay MP Adrian Sanders added: "It's an appalling decision, in my view. I want to see how they justify it."

On the colleges which were awarded funding, Mr Sanders said: "Just about every area listed is a marginal Labour seat.

"I will be asking what criteria was used in order to select these colleges for funding and to ask them to prove there was an objective mechanism for determining this, otherwise everybody is going to be suspicious about a lack of transparency.

"It means it delays where the college wants to go and stalls the outstanding progress that's been made."

Lib Dem MP for Teignbridge Richard Younger-Ross echoed the comments saying: "It's a Labour Party political stitch-up. We have under-funding for education across the board in Devon.

"It's about time Government recognised its duty to ensure equitable funding."