MONMOUTHSHIRE County Council attempted to reassure concerned members of the public at a recent Bryn y Cwm meeting saying that no deal had been made between Coleg Gwent and the council to help close The Hill college.

Members of the public who attended the meeting at Goytre Village Hall felt that education in the north of the county would suffer as a result of the closure

Leader of the council and a former governor of Coleg Gwent, Councillor Peter Fox, told the meeting that nobody wanted to see The Hill close, he said, All colleges around Wales are going through difficult times.

What I do know is that the business is losing money and cant sustain the losses they were picking up in this financial climate.

There seems to be an unhealthy suggestion that there is something going on between the council and Coleg Gwent, there is no link there.

The college let us know that they would have to close The Hill and asked us to respect the confidentiality until it was fed to staff and students.

The covenant required that The Hill is used for educational purposes until 2016. If the Hill is sold, a clause required the removal of the covenant by paying the council 75 per cent of the market value less £5,000 per acre as defined in the conveyance.

Councillor Fox adds, The college made it clear to us, covenant released or not it would have to mothball The Hill.

Adding to this Councillor Bob Greenland said during the course of negotiations the value of the covenant was going to be near the value of the land at the Usk site.

Without the expense of consultations and negotiations it was decided to set a value to lift the covenant as the same price as the land.

The only money the council will get is £618,000 not 75 per cent of the value, if we had stuck to that Coleg Gwent would simply have been mothballed The Hill until 2016 when the covenant would be lifted.

The meeting heard that MCC originally had a £1million budget for a new headquarters but purchased a site for £618,000 saving money for council tax payers

Councillor Greenwood added, The £618,000 is not 75 per cent of the development of the land. I am aware that some of the land is outside of the development boundaries outlined in the UDP but I am doubtful of any building will take place outside the planning boundary.

Councillor Brian Hood said that the deal of saving council tax payers money to lift the covenant and stop The Hill being mothballed was an excellent idea.

He said, There are two issues, the building and the education, the building is less important that the education.

Coleg Gwent said it would try and have all the courses elsewhere but Howard Burton did warn that they were so short of money as the Assembly have cut money, he didnt think they could afford it.

Coleg Gwent need to save £3.5 million following cuts in funding for all post-16 education in Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government.

However, Councillor Simon Howarth said that Coleg Gwent was, pulling all the strings.

What they are saying is if you dont agree to this idea we will mothball the college.

Councillor Greenland responded, If we didnt lift the covenant we would be paying £618,000 for the site in Usk - that is council taxpayers would be paying for it and The Hill would close and the council would be getting nothing for it.

David Haswell asked the committee if Monmouthshire County Council was selling itself down the river as the fact that the Hill straddles the town boundary means no one can be sure of the actual value.

The present value could be £1million, there is a staggering amount of land. You are the custodians of the county.

Has the director of education done enough?

Councillor Fox said, people are questioning our integrity and I take umbrage to that. I am telling the truth. There is no other figure than £618,000.

Councillor Fox added that he could understand why people felt the two issues were linked but again stressed that they were not.

Councillor Roger Harris said, It would be interesting to know whether the covenant would be lifted by cabinet if the land at Rhadyr wasnt available.