£12.5 MILLION SQUANDERED ON ST ALBANS OFFICE LEASE BY BODY RESPONSIBLE FOR OAKLANDS COLLEGE FUNDING PLIGHT

3.32.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 30th Apr 2009

A document leaked to the Guardian newspaper has revealed that an astonishing £12.5 million bill will be incurred by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for cancelling its lease on its lavish St Albans offices in Grosvenor Road. The lease has nine more years to run and was costing £17,200 for each of the 32 LSC staff employed in the Hertfordshire office.

."The Learning and Skills Council dropped a bombshell on Oaklands College's plans for the new Smallford campus when its inability to budget meant that there was no money left to meet its promise to contribute £44 million to that project," said Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesman for St Albans.

"It now beggars belief that £12.5 million looks like being thrown away in St Albans because of further financial incompetence and complete lack of professionalism. It is just a kick in the teeth for all the teaching professionals who actually are delivering education on the front line in Hertfordshire."

Lib Dem county councillor Chris White commented that quite a few primary schools could have been constructed with this money - not least the school so desperately needed for St Albans city centre.