MERGING two Hampshire colleges will damage young people's education for years to come, according to bosses at one of the threatened institutions.

The boss of St Vincent's College in Gosport spoke out after hearing that the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) intended to press on with their plans for the new state-of-the-art super college, which will serve up to 6,000 students from Fareham and Gosport.

Principal Steve Wain also launched a stinging attack on the Government-backed LSC, saying it was putting itself in the position of judge, jury and executioner over the plans.

Under the proposals the LSC will invest £60m building Solent College, with the current favourite site being HMS Daedalus.

The new college would be both a sixth form and a further education college, meaning students could chose between traditional AS and A-level courses and vocational training.

The LSC believes it will help raise the aspirations of students from the area, and has launched a public consultation exercise to gauge local feelings.

Under the current timetable both Fareham College and St Vincent's would cease to exist next October, although initially the new college would still operate from the two sites until new facilities were completed - planned for 2011.

The boss of Fareham College, Carl Groves, last week told the Daily Echo he believed the merger was still the best option for students, giving them the widest choice of what to study.

However Mr Wain yesterday called on the LSC to answer specific questions, including under what powers it could force the dissolution of St Vincent's College, why its public consultation notice failed to properly reiterate St Vincent's fears, and why it won't consider other options.

Mr Wain added: "A forced merger will cause chaos in post-16 education and will be damaging for the foreseeable future.

"At the end of October our governing body voted unanimously to reject this merger on the basis that it is a highly risky strategy which is likely to fail to meet the needs of all the young people in the area.

"As a result of St Vincent's withdrawal, the LSC is making, in effect, a proposal to itself and has made it clear it intends to be judge, jury and executioner on that proposal. This is a situation we believe to be without precedent and which has profound implications for the whole post-16 education sector."

A decision is due in the new year.