Newton Rigg
Our beloved agricultural college is under threat
Please join our campaign to save it
Join the campaign NOW
We need Newton Rigg for our economy, for our students, and for our farms. We’ve known it has been at risk for eighteen months. But we are still not there. This is not because of Newton Rigg itself. It has a historic name, unique land and a county that supports it. It could flourish by investing in new agricultural technologies, in dairy, and in upland farming. There has been no lack of community support: members of the Applefell group immediately launched a campaign, produced a compelling plan for the future of the campus and relentlessly kept the subject alive. The Herald has championed it. Eden District Council crafted a detailed Cumbrian bid to take over the services. The staff brought their own proposal. And there have been leaflets, demonstrations, and dozens of official meetings. But Newton Rigg is still not safe.
The Yorkshire college, Askham Bryan, might now be given Newton Rigg’s 1,000 acres – which is worth tens of millions if it were developed – by the Skills Funding Agency with no strings attached, in order to run the college. If the land were protected, I would welcome Askham Bryan: they have good skills, experience, a good plan and money. But we cannot give them even the option of selling up the land and the college in a few years and returning to Yorkshire. It would not just be the end of the land. It would be the end of over a hundred years of history, the end of hundreds of jobs, and the end of agricultural education in the uplands and the North-West.
We need one last push in this long difficult campaign and one focus: to ensure Newton Rigg is a flourishing agricultural college in a generation’s time. We must insist that, whoever takes the college, the land is protected by trust or strict covenant. There will be no movie heroes in this fight as in that to save Penrith Cinema: the final terms will be set by accountants, and civil servants, and above all lawyers. But we need some cinema energy for Newton Rigg as well.
Let’s gather more than the 6,000 names we got for the cinema:- Email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- Write to me at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
- Join the Facebook campaign to help save Newton Rigg HERE.
and let Carlisle and London see that we will not surrender this vital part of our heritage and our future.
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.
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.
