THE decision by the University of South Wales to close the historic Caerleon campus has provoked a mixed reaction since the Argus website first broke the news last Friday.

An anti-closure campaign run by Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Paul Halliday has attracted more than 2,500 signatures of support.

Constituency MP Paul Flynn, meanwhile, while unhappy at the closure plan accepts it as an economic reality and says students have been voting with their feet.

The Argus will continue to promote and publicise the Save Caerleon Campus campaign. We will also continue to report alternative views.

But we will not be campaigning ourselves to save the campus. In my view, it is a lost cause.

The decision has been taken.

That is not to say I do not care about the Caerleon campus. I do.

I live a few hundred yards from it. It is where I graduated as a mature Masters student seven years ago. It is where my eldest son is currently training to be a primary school teacher.

Its closure concerns me, of course it does. But so does the future of the city centre campus that is such a vital part of the regeneration of Newport.

The further investment and increase in student numbers planned for the city centre campus is important and should not be underestimated.

In an ideal world, I would like to see both the Caerleon and city centre campuses thrive. But we have to face reality.

It is my firm view that the future use of the Caerleon site is where the focus should now be.

The site should not just be sold off to a housing developer. That is an option the Argus would campaign long and hard against.

It should, in the most part, be used for education and to benefit the local community.

So I have a suggestion.

Why not relocate Caerleon Comprehensive School to the campus site?

The school, while not exactly falling down around pupils' ears, is in need of significant refurbishment. But as public sector cuts continue to bite hard, there is no money for such work.

The days of new-build schools are, for the time being, gone. Newport benefitted through the first few years of this century from government schemes to replace or refurbish schools but those days are over.

But it strikes me that the current school site would be worth a pretty penny as development land. The campus site, meanwhile, has a number of relatively new facilities such as its sports hall that would be perfect for a relocated school.

Other work could easily be funded by the sale of the school site.

The chances of a relocated school taking up the entirety of the campus site are small, leaving some land available for development.

I would much rather see the grand facade of the main campus building becoming the new entrance for a relocated secondary school than to see it turned into luxury apartments.

Let's hope the city council and the university can work together to turn the negative of the campus closure into a positive for Caerleon.