CITB college sale latest

Unite, which represents workers at the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is seeking urgent answers following the announcement that the organisation is planning to sell its construction college at Bircham Newton in Norfolk to West Suffolk College.

 

If the sale does procced as planned it will end a long period of uncertainty which began in November 2017 when the CITB announced it was moving its headquarters from Bircham Newton and would no longer be supplying bespoke training to the construction industry.

 

Unite regional co-ordinating officer Mark Robinson said, “This is far from the end of this long running saga and a lot more detail is required before Unite is able to say whether the planned deal is good news for our members.

 

“Unite is now seeking answers to questions concerning whether all the existing courses currently undertaken at the national construction college will continue to operate, or whether elements of the training will transfer to the West Suffolk College in Bury St Edmunds,” he added.

 

“It also needs to be established if West Suffolk College will purchase the site or rent it, and, if the latter, for how long such an arrangement will last.

 

“Our members need to be given a proper timetable of how quickly a sale and transfer will proceed. Their lives have been put on hold for two and half years while this sorry saga has rolled along and they deserve closure and certainty about their future,” Robinson went on to say.

 

“Unite will now be seeking urgent meetings with both the CITB and West Suffolk College to get the answers our members deserve.”