BURNLEY College's ambitious plans to move to a new £40million building within the town centre have been given the backing of the chief inspector of schools.

And the college has received a glowing OFSTED report following its recent inspection.

Chief Inspector David Bell was among the team of 21 inspectors who visited the college last November -- the first time he has inspected a further education establishment.

Inspectors rated the college as in the top 10per cent in the country and were impressed by high pass rates.

They commented on the high percentages of students going on to university, and a "good and improving quality of teaching", with teachers "well qualified and experienced" who have "high standards and set high expectations".

Delighted principal John Smith said the college had "massively" improved since its last inspection four years ago, thanks to "tremendous hard work" -- and he was confident it could progress further.

He added: "This is a very good report, but we are not stopping there. OFSTED say we are a very good college, but we want to be an outstanding college.

"We have a plan already to move on and become outstanding."

The only area for improvement the inspectors found was accommodation with the college's "much ageing" buildings, built in 1909, criticised.

But the college already has ambitious plans to build the new further and higher education college within the next four years, as called for by the inspectors.

In the meantime, £400,000 will be spent creating a new Creative Arts and Media Centre and new sports hall on the current Ormerod Road site.

There will also be a newly-established Construction Centre at International House, Burnley, which will have high-quality facilities, and the college will also use state-of-the-art IT and engineering facilities at the new Digital Technology Centre on the former Michelin site.