GWENT'S economic recovery from years of industrial decline depends on creating a skilled workforce.

That training has come through education centres like Coleg Gwent and training charity Rathbone.

Last year Rathbone pulled the plug on its Welsh operation with the loss of 50 lecturer's jobs and 400 student places in Gwent alone.

The charity's chief executive Darrel James blamed funding body ELWa for starving his organisation of cash.

Then last week Coleg Gwent announced proposals for redundancies of 45 staff and the possible closure of whole departments in Ebbw Vale and Pontypool.

Again ELWa was blamed for failing to provide enough money, but others also blamed Coleg Gwent's management.

The college is currently in £660,000 of debt and political leaders from education minister Jane Davidson to Blaenau Gwent AM Peter Law say they were never warned of any crisis that would lead to job cuts.

Mr Law is particularly angry that the engineering and catering departments in the heart of his constituency are to be scrapped.

He and Blaenau Gwent MP Llew Smith, who has put down an Early Day Motion in Parliament condemning the cuts, were visiting the staff and students at the Ebbw Vale campus today.

Mr Law said: "After losing the steelworks these departments are vital to our economic recovery. Having been there since 1964 they've been scrapped with no notice given to anyone.

"It's a disgrace that the management did not tell myself or the MP when we could have done something to help.

"This is a very deprived community that needs support, the plug has been pulled and our students are expected to travel 30 miles to Newport when we have very poor public transport. There must now be a big question mark over the management of Coleg Gwent and the way further education is funded in Wales."

Management at the college is quick to rebut the claims and put the blame at the lack of resources for FE colleges.

But unionised staff across Coleg Gwent's campuses have voted unanimously to ballot for strike action which could take place in less than a month.

They are calling for the resignation of the senior management team. Neil McEvoy, a language teacher and National Union of Teachers (NUT) representative at Pontypool, said: "ELWa is guilty of wasting and sitting on money that should be invested in further education."

Mr McEvoy, who also hit out over the management of the college, said any strike action would not be designed to disrupt the education of students.

In order to investigate the problems South Wales East AM and former Coleg Gwent student Jocelyn Davies are calling for an Audit Commission enquiry into the college's management and ELWa, which she claims is currently "unaccountable".

Ms Davies said: "People's lives and public money are being played with. There have been a lot of problems with the management and ELWa and an audit enquiry would quickly get to the bottom of it."

No one from ELWa was available for comment.