Ceredigion County Council plans to turn Lampeter’s university campus into a post-16 vocational education site are moving forward.

A report on the council’s plans for the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) Lampeter campus will be put before Cabinet members on Tuesday.

The council revealed its plans to convert Wales' oldest university into a skills-based campus in June last year.

Courses at Lampeter's university campus came to an end last June after more than 200 years of higher education at the site, with learners moving to the university’s Carmarthen campus from September.

Founded as St David’s College in 1822, the university has played a role in Lampeter life for 200 years and the report to be put before members said the taking away of undergraduate courses from the campus “has left a historic asset underutilised.”

The report said that shortly after the university’s announcement to move students to Carmarthen, “officers from CCC and UWTSD began discussions on the future of the campus and began to develop the concept of a hub for vocational education.”

The planned vocational education centre will work in conjunction with the council’s nearby Lletytwppa farm, bought for £1.85m to provide agricultural education.

The Cabinet report said that talks are ongoing as to what courses and facilities the new centre on the campus could offer.

The report said the campus “provides opportunities to develop workshops and teaching spaces for a range of vocational courses to meet the needs of the local economy.”

“Wales does not currently have a recognised centre for the development of heritage and artisan skills,” it added.

“It is proposed that a number of courses would be developed to include these skills.”

The report added that campus also offers potential for new sports, recreation and local wellbeing provision as well as developing a regionally and nationally significant Sports Academy.

“The Arts Centre on the Lampeter campus could also be developed for cultural creative and social activities,” the report said, while “the library on the university campus provides opportunities to develop and enhance wider library provision in the town.”

Announcing its plans last year, Ceredigion County Council said: "Following a series of discussions between the Council and the University, exciting plans are being developed to deliver post-16 vocational education on the campus, with particular emphasis on skills-based courses critical to the rural economy of Wales, such as agriculture, horticulture, gastronomy and construction.”

Despite similar courses being offered at Coleg Ceredigion sites in Cardigan and Aberystwyth, UWTSD said there are “currently no plans” to close the Coleg Ceredigion sites.

A spokesperson for UWTSD told the Cambrian News last year: “The University and Ceredigion County Council have announced plans to explore opportunities for post-16 vocational education on the Lampeter campus, with particular emphasis on skills-based courses critical to the rural economy of Wales.

“This is not intended to compete with current provision available at Coleg Ceredigion, which is a constituent college of the UWTSD Group.

“There are currently no proposals or plans to remove post-16 education from Aberystwyth or Cardigan.”