WE are living in a time of austerity. There can be little doubt about that.

And those government cutbacks in public spending are starting to bite deep.

If we needed proof, we had it in abundance on Friday when Warrington & Vale Royal College announced the sad news that its Hartford campus is to close apart from some engineering and advanced manufacturing courses.

It’s sad news for those who would have studied there and probably even sadder news for the 56 employees who are about to lose their jobs.

The actual number of people who will find themselves out of work may well be higher than 56 if there are any part-timers in the final figure.

There is just one little ray of sunshine for mid Cheshire in all of this and that is Northwich’s loss is Winsford’s gain.

It looks like some courses that were previously run out of the Hartford building will move to the much newer Winsford campus.

Of course, some of the courses will be moving to Warrington so not everyone is a winner here if you suddenly find your local trip to college now involves traipsing half way across Cheshire.

(I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to get anywhere in Warrington at rush hour. I have and it’s no joke, believe me.) At this point, I could start having a rant about Northwich being short-changed yet again but I won’t.

I can only assume the people who are running the college know what they are doing. I can only assume they are in possession of all the facts and figures, know how much money they will get over the coming years and have taken the decision in the best interests of securing some kind of future for the college.

But it still doesn’t feel good for Northwich, does it?

What is really annoying me about all this is the PR spin and institutional education-speak put out by Warrington and Vale Royal College to justify the closure.

(Don’t believe me? Just have a look on the Northwich Guardian website for the full wording.) But here are a couple of examples.

The Hartford campus is to all-but close. How does Warrington and Vale Royal College describe that? Did they say: ‘Really sorry, we haven’t got enough money because of government funding cuts and something had to go.’ No, they said: “Warrington & Vale Royal College is set to re-shape the Vale Royal estate and operational aspects of the organisation as part of exciting plans for an enhanced post 16 offer for the Winsford community.”

You couldn’t make it up, could you? I’m not so sure the people who are about to be made redundant will consider this to be a particularly exciting time.

And how about: “As stated in our original merger proposal, we committed to the consolidation of our estate and in-parallel, curriculum specialisation to match the Local Enterprise Partnership’s strategic economic priorities and raise skill levels in response to the government’s Industrial Strategy. This, in turn, will facilitate investment in specialist, ‘best in class’ facilities and resources to meet and exceed industry standards.”

And my personal favourite: “In keeping with the aims of the area based review, we will ensure that Warrington & Vale Royal College is financially sustainable and readily able to respond to any challenges ahead, meeting economic and skills priorities and the needs of the communities we serve, both now and in the future. Above all we aim to provide an excellent learning experience and a breadth of provision across the college estate, providing a range of clear progression routes at all levels, from Entry upwards, into positive destinations, higher level study and/or fulfilling careers.”

So that’s made it nice and clear for everyone.

I despair.

On another subject, Tom Kerridge is a world-class, Michelin-starred chef. And he seems like a lovely chap as well.

He had an idea to take his Pub in the Park food and music festival on tour and picked some pretty up-market towns for what is a fairly exclusive gig – Marlow, Bath, Tunbridge Wells and our very own Knutsford.

But it would appear what’s good enough for the people of Bath and Tunbridge Wells isn’t good enough for the people of Knutsford.

The organisers wanted to hold it on The Heath but from the storm of protest generated by a small but vociferous group of protesters, you would have thought the centrepiece of the festival was the ritual slaughter of the town’s first born.

This was a perfect opportunity to put the town on the national map and is an opportunity missed.

The festival will go ahead but a couple of miles down the road towards Ollerton, meaning Knutsford is unlikely to now pick up any passing trade and will have to suffer the effects of festival traffic travelling through the town.

As the old proverb says: Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.

Written by our columnist The Fly in the Ointment