LETTERS of concern about the future from staff and the families of workers at the Royal Forest of Dean College have been arriving at the Review.

Increasing fears of impending extensive jobs losses have led to a 'no confidence' vote in the establishment's principal and vice principal.

However the principal, Janak Patel, and the chair of governors, Alan Williams, on Tuesday issued a joint statement saying they and unions involved had agreed to postpone compulsory redundancies.

"The college, like many colleges, is facing the most challenging time in its history. This is mainly due to the recession, the need for efficiency savings and the widely publicised problems of funding public expenditure.

"Our strategy is to pursue collaboration with other colleges, campaigning for more funding and, if necessary, make staff redundancies. We hope these will be on a voluntary basis and we will consider this again in September."

The principal said: "We fully understand the emotions which have led to the vote of no confidence. My job is to ensure the long term future of the college in providing outstanding education in the Forest. We cannot rule out the prospect of redundancies but we are fighting to avoid them."

Chair of governors Mr Williams said: "The governors and I fully support the strategy pursued by the college managers. The recession has blighted public expenditure and has had a bad effect on the ability of employers to fund training. The governors will work with managers and staff to secure the college's future. But to achieve this we all need to pull together and I appeal to all involved to support our campaign for better funding and closer working with nearby colleges."

Roma Arnott, UCU branch secretary and staff governor, said: "The college unions, the SLT and the governors have been in constant negotiations and have reached an agreement to postpone any compulsory redundancies and instead look for alternative ways of making savings, including voluntary redundancies and early retirement.

"UCU are now satisfied that all efforts are being made to ameliorate the necessity for compulsory redundancies."