POLITICIANS in the Gwent valleys say they are furious that a cash crisis at Coleg Gwent is set to lead to the closure of the engineering department at the Ebbw Vale campus.

They say they were kept in the dark about the £661,000 funding shortfall until it was too late to help.

Yesterday the Argus reported that 45 Coleg Gwent staff are set to lose their jobs because of a lack of money from funding body ELWa.

The proposed cutbacks, over which bosses are currently consulting trades unions, include the closure of the engineering departments at both the Ebbw Vale and Pontypool campuses.

Students will now have to travel to Newport to study the subject. Blaenau Gwent's AM, Peter Law, and MP Llew Smith say that the problem was only brought to their attention by the Argus.

Mr Law said: "It is staggering that I have not been contacted and informed of the problems.

"I could have lobbied ELWa and the education minister, and tried to resolve the situation, now it's too late. It's a disgraceful situation and I will be pursuing it with the principal."

Mr Smith said: "Removing engineering training from an area that is trying to attract new engineering companies is absolutely crazy.

"Blaenau Gwent has one of the lowest levels of car ownership in the UK, so expecting people to get to Newport all the time is very unfair. We were promised a bonfire of the quangoes, and yet ELWa, this unelected body, continues to make damaging decisions about our community. If we'd been told we could have avoided this."

South Wales East AM Jocelyn Davies said: "The fact that all engineering provision is being removed from Ebbw Vale and Pontypool is a huge blow to those areas. They desperately need vocational training."

A spokeswoman for Coleg Gwent said: "The funding shortfall has forced us to make tough decisions. We are focusing resources on growing areas, and with the end of the steelworks there is very little demand for engineering courses. We have proposed changes and we are now in a 30-day consultation period."