A total of £260,000 is being spent to improve the availability of adult community learning in Essex’s poorest areas.

Essex County Council will be spending the money in areas including Colchester, Harwich and Braintree as part of its levelling up agenda.

The additional money is being aimed at supporting some of the most disadvantaged - those children and adults with special educational needs, those families with children on free school meals and working families and young adults not in education, employment or training.

Essex County Council acknowledges some people have to travel unreasonable distances to access adult courses.

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Adult Community Learning does not have its own specialist health and science facilities in Colchester, even though around the city there are several employers who recruit to jobs within both the health and science sectors, such as Colchester Hospital and Bradwell B power station.

This means residents must travel to the University of Essex to access hands-on learning opportunities.

To offer easier access to services, it is proposed to set up a specialist classroom for health and science related subjects (including new apprenticeships) at a cost of £60,000.

Essex County Council is also spending £70,000 for 12 months to offer community-based ACL provision in Harwich to avoid residents having to travel to Clacton.

A statement as part of a decision notice said: “ACL aims to improve lives through learning.

“ACL’s expertise is well placed working with hard-to-reach communities and supporting residents to access learning opportunities that can improve both social and economic wellbeing, raise aspiration, build confidence, and instil a culture of lifelong learning.”