Newton Rigg
Our beloved agricultural college is under threat
Please join our campaign to save it
About Newton Rigg
Newton Rigg was founded in 1896 by the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. Its purpos e was to provide training for young men and women, mainly farmers’ sons and daughters, in the science and practice of agriculture.
For over a century, Newton Rigg enjoyed a national reputation for excellence and was looked upon by the farming community as an invaluable source of advice and training.
But, in 1998, Newton Rigg was taken over by the University of Central Lancaster. In 2007, its status changed again when it was transferred to the University of Cumbria. None of this was to Newton Rigg's benefit.
Instead, its teaching staff was run down, it was drawn into offering an excessive number of courses and it was distracted from its traditional strengths in the land base sector. Part of its land, which had been given to it by local philanthropists and the local council, was sold off.
Today, after a decade of mismanagement, the University of Cumbria is in trouble. It has debts of £30m and, in November 2009, we discovered that it was running an £8.4m deficit.
The risk is that Newton Rigg may not survive the inevitable restructuring of the University of Cumbria.
Why We MUST Save Newton Rigg
• Newton Rigg has been in existence for more than a century as one of the country’s most prominent and highly respected agriculture colleges with a particular emphasis on further education and short courses.
• Thousands of Cumbrians have studied at Newton Rigg and it still fulfils a crucial Further Education role essential to local communities and businesses.
• Hundreds of jobs in the area depend on the campus. The future competitiveness of Cumbrian agriculture will depend upon the region having access to local, specialist further education in local agricultural techniques.
•Newton Rigg remains a powerful symbol and a source of pride to the farming and land-based economy in the North West.
•The college still has unique assets like the only upland farm used for educational purposes in the world.
We are determined to protect the Newton Rigg campus. Our local newspapers are running extremely active campaigns to save it.
Please help me to make sure that Newton Rigg’s needs and concerns are heard all over the country, in London as well as Penrith and Carlisle.
Please join our campaign to help save Newton Rigg on Facebook HERE.
And please get in touch by to support my campaign in every way you can:
Write to me at
Rory Stewart OBE MP
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Ring me on
020 7219 7127
Email me by clicking here.