ALL of the funding for a state-of-the art learning centre has been axed - just four months after a £2million refit.

The decision by the Government to withdraw the money for the Towneley Park City Learning Centre in Burnley has been labelled as ‘absolutely crazy’.

And one headteacher said it would be a great loss to students in the town if it were to close.

The centre is used by Burnley primary and secondary schools for media and IT courses as well as teacher training.

But Lancashire County Council bosses said they were now reviewing its future after the Government cut its funding of £186,000 a year.

In the present tight financial climate the council said it was unclear where money could be found to maintain the centre in its present form.

Unions said they were opposed to any closure while headteachers in the area said they were very worried about the centre’s future.

The facility, which is located on the Unity College site, was refitted at a cost of £2million through Lancashire’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.

As such tax payers will continue to pay for it during the course of the 25 year PFI agreement attached to the area’s schools.

Ken Cridland, NUT Lancashire secretary, said: “I have benefitted from training in the centre. It is a totally impressive. It will be absolutely crazy to lose it.

“It is a good facility for teachers and support staff. It is a fantastic facility to use in Lancashire. Everything should be done to keep it running.”

Shuttleworth College headteacher Martin Burgess said: “It would be a great loss to lose the centre. This centre can be used by all schools and teachers. ”

In a letter to local schools, the council said: “We are working with the management to determine the most appropriate service to be offered to schools and other educational settings that will provide the most secure future for the community facility.”

The Learning Centre, which first opened its doors in 2002 with an Excellence in Cities grant, employs seven people.

It has the latest media and ICT facilities, from audio recording equipment to professional photographic equipment, as well as conference and meeting rooms that can be booked.

Students are able to use its professional tv studio and editing suites for courses such as media studies and citzenship.

Children have previously used it’s equipment to contribute to BBC's Autumnwatch and Springwatch programmes and it was seen as a key way of improving creative skills in the town, which is developing links to Media City in Salford.

The centre is also used to train hundreds of teachers from across Lancashire.

Nick Crabtree, who is a school governor in Burnley, said he feared the facility would become like the council’s Woodlands Centre in Chorley, which is only used for conferences and meetings.

He said: “In terms of teacher support the centre would just become a centre the same as Woodlands. There will be no strategic support for schools. It would no longer be a City Learning Centre but an extension of Woodlands.”

Mike Hart, the council's director for capital investment and resources for children and young people, said: "It must be recognised that the government has withdrawn the grant funding that supported aspects of the work of all city learning centres, and that like others, Towneley Park City Learning Centre will need to operate within the new financial climate.

"We are working with the management to determine the most appropriate services to be offered to schools and other educational settings that will provide the most secure future for the facility."