Merton College was established in 1975 on London Road,
with a particular focus as a technical college. Merton Sixth
Form College (MSFC) was established on Central Road in 1990
as an 800-pupil 16-18 college for the borough.
In 1992, sixth form and further education colleges were
given independence by the government, becoming separate entities
free from Local Education Authority (LEA) control. MSFC and
Merton College were on their own.
In a periodic inspection in 1997/8, MSFC received Grade
4s for Governance and Management, and there followed serious
concerns about the viability of the college. It was not achieving
the numbers of pupils needed to make it economic. The principal
subsequently resigned and MSFC was re-launched as Phoenix
College. However, the financial difficulties continued and
so, in 2000, Phoenix College became part of its close neighbour,
Merton College.
In 2002, the college corporation decided to merge the two
college sites and to sell Central Road in order to fund the
redevelopment of the London Road campus.
The services of Tribal, a planning and project management
consultancy, were retained in 2002, and planning applications
for the redevelopment of the London Road campus and the residential
development on Central Road were submitted to Merton Council.
Although consent was granted for the redevelopment, it was
denied for the residential application on Central Road, halting
the entire project. It could not now go ahead as sale of
the Central Road site provided the bulk of the finance, which
was dependent upon securing outline planning consent.
A successful appeal was lodged with the Secretary of State
and, with the agreement in principle of other funding from
the Learning and Skills Council, the project was given the
go-ahead earlier this year, with construction planned to
start in the summer.
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