A Staffordshire college group has secured over £6 million in capital funding to increase capacity at its Newcastle-under-Lyme campus.

Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group (NSCG) has successfully secured £6.8 million in capital funding from the Department for Education's (DfE) Post-16 Capacity Fund.

The award comes as part of the Government's wider £287 million national investment package designed to address growing demographic demand by creating over 22,000 additional places across post-16 education.

The investment is a direct response to significant growth at NSCG's Newcastle-under-Lyme campus over recent years and sustained, unprecedented demand for places.

Commenting on the announcement, Craig Hodgson, Principal and Chief Executive of NSCG, said: "We are delighted to have secured this support from the Department for Education and we extend our sincere thanks to the DfE and our local MPs for their continued backing.

"Learner numbers on our Newcastle campus grew by 700 last September alone and overall enrolment has increased by over 25% over the last five years — a true testament to our reputation for quality, results and student experience."

The grant will contribute towards a major £13 million extension to the main building at the Knutton Lane site.

The expansion will deliver at least 16 additional classroom spaces and enable the college to consolidate all health and social care facilities into one dedicated teaching zone.

Crucially, moving these facilities into a purpose-built annex will free up existing teaching space across the wider campus to benefit a broad range of other curriculum areas.

Craig added: "With colleges nationwide facing demographic growth, we are thrilled that we can open up further capacity to ensure local school leavers continue to have access to top-tier education.

"We look forward to seeing work get underway shortly and to welcoming our September 2027 intake into this state-of-the-art facility."

Planning permission for the facility has already been granted and regional building contractor Speller Metcalfe has been appointed to deliver the scheme.

Works are scheduled to commence on 10 August 2026, with the completed extension set to open its doors to learners joining the College in September 2027.

For further information regarding the DfE funding framework, details can be found on the official GOV.UK Post-16 capacity fund publication page.

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