West College is hit by £4.6m repair bill
Bosses must act now, insists MSP Maurice Golden
A Paisley college has been rocked by a growing repair bill of more than £ 4.6 million, a shock probe revealed.
West College Scotland, which has its main campus in the town’s Renfrew Road, faces soaring costs over its massive maintenance backlog.
Figures released by public spending watchdog Audit Scotland show the Paisley campus of WCS requires £4,559,919 to fix it up, with almost £900,000 of these repairs deemed urgent.
West of Scotland MSP Maurice Golden is demanding action from college bosses over the mushrooming cost.
And he claimed the cost to the public purse is just the latest in a long line of failures from the Holyrood Government in relation to the college sector.
The Scottish Conservative member said: “The repair bill at our West of Scotland Colleges is threatening to spiral out of control and urgent action must be taken.
“For Paisley’s college alone to be requiring over £4.5m of repairs, shows just how much work there is to be done in maintaining our college buildings.”
However WCS Paisley, which was formerly Reid Kerr College, is far from faring the worst since it was created by merging with Clydebank College and James Watt College, Greenock, in 2013.
The Audit Scotland report reveals Greenock’s Finnart Street campus requires £15,531,427 in repairs with £ 409,324 deemed urgent.
However Clydebank faces maintenance costs of £532,708 with £145,191 for urgent repairs.
The bill for all of Scotland’s colleges is £ 163,308,518, of which £15,518,239 is needed for immediate repairs.
Maurice added: “The SNP Government has let down our college sector for far too long, and this ever growing repair bill is just another example of how they have failed our students.
“Our students deserve better and the SNP Government must provide our colleges with the resources needed to repair their buildings to the highest standard.”
WCS bosses welcomed the Audit Scotland report which they said underlines the importance in funding the maintenance costs of their buildings.
College spokesman Diarmid O’Hara said: “West College Scotland is pleased that Audit Scotland’s report acknowledges the significant investment required so that our estate is fit for 21st Century teaching and learning.
“We have made outline business cases to the Scottish Funding Council about the future of our Paisley and Greenock estates, and will continue to engage with the Funding Council to deliver the best for our students.”