North Yorkshire Council has approved plans by Craven College in Skipton to build new state-of-the-art facilities at its auction mart campus.

It follows the college’s successful bid for £2.3m in government funding to help it deliver T-Level courses in agricultural engineering and construction.

T Levels are two-year technical level courses, equivalent to three A-Levels, that mix academic classroom learning with on-the-job experience.

Research by the college found that engineering, manufacturing and agriculture are the most strongly represented industries in Craven.

However, employers have reported issues recruiting people in specialist trades, particularly in electrical and mechanical engineering.

It will be the second development to take place at the college’s auction mart campus, which is housed on the Craven Cattle Mart complex in Skipton.

Its first development, Craven Equine, opened to the public in September 2022 and is an equine learning space and event venue.

A college spokesperson said: “The new development will continue the college’s ongoing commitment to providing state-of-the-art agricultural engineering and construction learning environments, to ensure that students from North Yorkshire and neighbouring West Yorkshire and East Lancashire have dynamic and practical spaces to learn the skills employers in the rural community and businesses need for the future.”

Earlier this year, the college was downgraded by Ofsted following “significant turbulence” in its leadership.

The previously ‘good’ rated college was handed a ‘requires improvement’ judgment.

While the college was judged ‘good’ for the quality of education, personal development, adult learning and apprenticeships, Ofsted found its leadership and management to ‘require improvement’.

Following the rating, Anita Lall was appointed new principal and chief executive after previously holding the position on an interim basis.