South East Essex College chief executive Tony Pitcher today admitted his ambitious relocation to the heart of Southend was in chaos.

He had high hopes of pressing ahead with the development, linked into the former Odeon cinema, even after a deal with Martin Dawn to spearhead the project collapsed last year.

Today, Mr Pitcher said: "We had heard that Martin Dawn had bought the Odeon site and obviously this now means we will have to look again at the college's scheme for the new site, which we have been working on for the past nine years.

"It is quite clear from this news that we will not be able to go ahead as planned. We will have to take further advice on how we can progress our plan for the future of the college.

"We will have to look again at the whole situation of the college's relocation."

Mr Pitcher confirmed a £25,000 goodwill payment had been paid to the college after it dropped High Court action to claw back alleged unpaid debts from Martin Dawn.

He said: "The college withdrew from the petition for a winding-up order because some interim payments have been made. However, this does not mean that the matter has been entirely settled."

Published Friday, March 15, 2002