West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has called for urgent action to help preserve teaching at the Malvern Hills College site.

As students return to classrooms, the MP called on the Warwickshire College Group to speed up its efforts to hand back the site to the consortium which is working to save both the site and the courses delivered at the historic site.

Harriett has written to both the management team and the board urging them to stop delaying the process of selling the sit back to the Malvern community while it is still a ‘going concern’.

The college group’s chairman has confirmed that the board will consider the bid once investigations have been carried out to confirm that the offer is a ‘fair price’.

Harriett said: “I have been frustrated by the approach taken by the Warwickshire College Group who have allowed courses to decline and demand to fall at this popular teaching site.

“This is a public asset, and it was handed on to the Group to deliver teaching, not build flats.

“I have said throughout this process that the Group should be behaving like educators, not corporate asset-strippers, and I’m repeating my call for them to work urgently with the consortium to preserve teaching in Malvern while it is still a going concern.

“I am sure that a fair price will be offered but it does frustrate me that the Group will walk away with a tidy profit on a transaction where they have allowed teaching to wither.

“Nevertheless, we all want to get on with the process of saving the college for the benefit of Malvern.”