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Councillor Ryan Priest, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrats, dismissed proposals for an Eton Star Academy in the town centre as a vanity project which risks further education (FE) provision in the region. Plans for the college, to provide A-level education for around 240 students, were first announced in 2022 when Dudley was one of three towns chosen to benefit from the then Conservative Government’s Free School Programme. Dudley was set to provide land for the college in Stafford Street but the scheme was put on hold when Labour took over in Westminster and called for a spending review. With no progress in sight Councillor Priest told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it is time for a rethink. Councillor Priest said: “The Dudley Eton project was always more vanity than it was sound investment.
