EDEN Valley councillors have pledged to help preserve the Newton Rigg College site for future land-based education.

In light of the recent announcement that the site had been snapped up by a well-established company from Cumbria's rural economy, Eden District Council has issued a reminder of the planning rules for the site, as set out in its local Plan.

They say the Campus and adjoining land at Newton Rigg are not earmarked for residential use, and while the land to the south-east of the campus area could become a new long-term strategic area for employment growth in the district, it has not yet undergone qualitative, market or viability assessment.

The council's statement follows the announcement last week that that the Leo Group, who owns and operates Omega Proteins in Penrith, is 'involved in the process' for the closure-hit countryside college at Penrith.

The announcement follows weeks of speculation that the company were the potential buyers of the Newton Rigg site, but it still has not been confirmed if the buy-out includes the campus's Sewborwens dairy farm, which was put up for sale through Savills Estate Agents for £5.5m.

Leader of Eden District Council, Virginia Taylor, said: “We all regret the temporary absence of land-based education at Newton Rigg, especially since alternative courses are out of reach for many Cumbrian students. We at Eden are doing all we can to ensure that education can resume and prosper, back at the Newton Rigg site.”

The Eden Local Plan 2014-32 was adopted in October 2018 and sets out the considerations required of any future planning applications in Eden. Within the plan, policy PEN 3 specifically refers to the land at Newton Rigg, regardless of who owns it.

Policy PEN 3 acknowledges the contribution that the Newton Rigg Campus makes to the economy and educational attainment in Eden, and encourages the development of the campus, including the use of sites for expansion or employment use in support of knowledge based and digital enterprises that might benefit from the expertise of the college campus.

The sale comes after Askham Bryan College at York took the decision to close the 125-year-old college campus after claiming it was no longer financially viable to continue operating.

Leo Group is one of the UK's leading collectors of animal by products. They specialise in the processing of these by products into meals, oils and pet food ingredients, which they export around the world. A family run company started in the late 1970's, Leo Group now employs a workforce of more than 1000 employees.

The college's Beckside hill farm at Mungrisdale was on the market for £1.75m, and this has since been sold to the Ernest Cook Trust for an undisclosed sum.