DEMOLITION work has started at a college ahead of a £7.5m rebuild.

Diggers rolled into the Witney campus of Abingdon and Witney College yesterday to begin tearing down the old, unused buildings.

It was the first step in a project that looked like it was not going to happen a year ago, after the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) withdrew £28m of funding.

In September the college submitted plans for a scaled-down version of the rebuild.

Vice-principal Di Batchelor said: “The demolition definitely feels like the first step in what has been quite a long process.”

The college has not yet got planning permission for the building work, with the Environment Agency requesting more information about drainage.

The scheme will be partly funded by a £1m pledge from the Skills Funding Agency, the body that replaced the LSC, with the college funding the rest, predominately through borrowing.