TWO South Devon colleges today face losing more than £400,000 a year in funding as a result of Whitehall cutbacks.

Labour MPs claim to have seen leaked documents which show Education Secretary Michael Gove plans to strip Paignton Community and Sports College and South Dartmoor Community College of their specialist sports status. That means losing targeted cash worth about £129 per student.

For Paignton, with just under 1,550 pupils, this means about £200,000.

For South Dartmoor and its 1,700 students, this could mean £220,000.

Labour says the cuts will impact on South Devon's larger colleges far more than the typical secondary school, where the loss would be around £130,000.

Torbay MP Adrian Sanders said it would be wrong to speculate on leaked papers ahead of today's official announcement.

The cut is part of comprehensive spending review due to be unveiled at noon today. The money saved would go back into the national funding pot and be shared out among all secondary schools.

Paignton College, which has a budget of about £8million, is on half-term and chairman of governors Iris Butler said: "I can't believe that this Government, which is committed to education and sport, would do anything to the detriment of young people."

John Julyan, sports development manager in Torbay, said it was likely the specialist sports status would be retained but the money, which pays for staff and kit, could be cut.

He said: "It would ultimately mean jobs but the biggest impact could be on the students, and that is the main concern. Any cut would have a detrimental impact."

Torbay's Conservative Mayor Nick Bye said: "We have to wait and see.

"It would be a huge surprise if they were to take money away from sports specialist colleges.

"If they are going to do this I would think it would be all specialist status schools. It would be extraordinary to do this to sport colleges and not others.

"We all have concerns as to how awful these cuts are going to be but we all want to be reassured it is going to be fair."

South Dartmoor principal Hugh Bellamy said losing the money would be 'a nightmare'.

He said: "We are talking about a massive amount of money, money that has absolutely become core funding.

"When you have got a Government saying in one breath there will be no cuts to schools and then you hear this sort of news, you begin to have your trust undermined."

Mr Bellamy said specialist schools had been responsible for the biggest raise in achievement with sports colleges doing best.

He said most money is spent on staffing and any cuts would result in a 'direct impact on attainment'.

"We have had specialist schools funding for such a long period of time that it has become core funds," said Mr Bellamy. "It is absolutely at the heart of what we do as a college."

He said there had been 'no consultation' on the potential cuts and that the Government had already 'clawed back' £35,000 from the college's technology funding.

"If they are doing this, it's staggering. It's our worst nightmare," said Mr Bellamy.

Teignbridge Council leader Alan Connett said: "We all know the country is in an awful state and this Government is going to have to make some difficult decisions.

"Education is a priority and the premium helps to re-balance the education service."

Shadow culture minister Ian Austin, who says he has seen the Government documents, said: "While British athletes were in Delhi last week winning medals for Britain and inspiring youngsters to take part in sport, David Cameron's coalition was drawing up plans to slash the support for the next generation of sporting stars."

It is also claimed Mr Gove, who believes not enough children take part in competitive sport, will end the commitment to five hours each week of PE, reverting to a basic two hours and will cut almost £125 million of in funding national for sport in schools.

In a statement the Department for Education said: "We are not commenting on speculation ahead of the spending review."