FOREST councillors have unanimously backed a call for the area’s 16- to 18-year-olds to have access to a full range of education courses.

It comes as Gloucestershire College consults on possibly dropping A-levels from its Forest campus at Five Acres near Coleford from September.

A motion, which received cross-party support, called for all students in the Forest to have access to A-Levels and technical and vocational education – although it did not call specifically for A-Levels to be retained at Five Acres.

Cllr Bruce Hogan (Lab, Lydbrook and Ruardean), who proposed the motion, said it would be “shameful” if teenagers from the central part of the Forest were made into “long-distance commuters.”

Currently only Newent School and Wyedean at Sedbury have sixth-forms which would mean students from Dene Magna in Mitcheldean, Lakers in Coleford and the Dean Academy in Lydney having to travel further.

Cllr Hogan said: “To have this hollowing out of the Forest where people would have travel to Sedbury, Newent, Monmouth or Gloucester would be shameful.”

Leader of the council Cllr Patrick Molyneux (Con, Woolaston and Hewelsfield) said he “fully endorsed” the motion.

He said: “We can send a strong message that the central Forest area should have A-Level provision.”

Cllr Sid Phelps (Green, Lydbrook and Ruardean) said he agreed A-Level provision was necessary although he was against the siting of the replacement college for Five Acres at the Northern Quarter development near Cinderford.

Gloucestershire College says it is consulting on dropping A-Levels at Five Acres because falling numbers of students has made it financially and educationally unviable to run the courses.

However, the college continues its efforts to attract students for September and is running a “post-GCSE choices evening at the college tonight (Wednesday).