A JUNIOR college for young people spearheaded by one of Scotland’s richest men is to close amid a bitter funding dispute with Glasgow City Council.

Parents whose children attend Newlands Junior College, which is the brainchild of tycoon Jim McColl, have been told by NJC that the council has not made the resources available to “put it on a permanent footing”.

However, a spokeswoman for the council, which is now drawing up plans to reintegrate the pupils into the state sector, blamed NJC.

She said: “The sudden closure of NJC must be extremely upsetting for the young people and their families. We are appalled by the way the whole situation has been handled by the Newlands management team. Letters announcing the closure have been sent out to families out of the blue and without any input from the council.”

She added: “There’s no doubt that these young people have been failed by Newlands. We will be arranging meetings with every young person and their families next week to discuss their career aspirations and work with them to put in place a programme of support.”

Parents were told by letter and it's understood the last of the pupils will leave by Easter.

In response, Mr McColl said of NJC: “Every year we have had a 100% success rate in getting pupils into work or college. We have had over 130 people who have benefited.”

He added: “For Glasgow city council to say what they have said in their statement to you is appalling. They have known about this and have buried their heads.

It was a risk to try and change the system by showing how it could be successful, but the feedback I got is they [the council] didn’t have the resources to do this.”

Mr McColl, a billionaire, is chief executive and chair of engineering giant Clyde Blowers and a member of First Minister’s council of economic advisers.

In 2014 he and his firm set up NJC, which caters for 14-16 year olds who have become “disengaged” from education, on a five year “demonstration basis”.

Pupils are offered a range of support, including vocational courses and advice on personal development.

The NJC has “college” in its title, but the venture is effectively an independent school that is funded by public money and private donors.

The Scottish Government provided NJC with operating costs worth £345,000 in 2017/18 and £363,000 the following year, as well as a £500,000 capital grant towards establishing the College.

Glasgow council has given the school £100,000 a year for the last five years and currently has over 20 pupils at the college.