The board of Newton Rigg Ltd have announced it has ceased trading and will be placed in creditors’ voluntary liquidation. The company offered rural advice, training, education and knowledge transfer from its base near Penrith.
Newton Rigg Ltd was set up to bring back land based education in Cumbria at the former Newton Rigg College site in late 2020. However it suffered losses from its involvement in running the Equine Centre on the campus, which closed in April. A claim that has been refuted by those involved in the running of the Equine Centre.
The statement by Newton Rigg Ltd claims “These losses have had a knock on effect on the financial health of the whole organisation. Recently it has struggled to gain sufficient funding to make the business viable, despite seeking support from key organisations that share the company’s aims and values.”
The remaining board of Newton Rigg Ltd that now has only two directors remaining after four resigned in May/April this year say they are disappointed that they are not able to continue to pursue their vision for an excellent rural training hub near Penrith, offering support to Cumbrian farmers and land based businesses to develop and grow.
Over the last few years they are proud to have provided programs covering everything from upskilling dairy and sheep farmers, to well-being courses helping to improve participants mental health.
Rosalind Hilton, Licensed Insolvency Practitioner at Adcroft Hilton, who is advising the board, said: “Unfortunately, sustainable funding for this type of local training organisation is notoriously difficult. Following problems with a major project, the board continued to seek new support and funding but were unable to raise enough to cover the cash flow needed.”
The directors of Newton Rigg Ltd have said “would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the business for their support, from staff and students to those who helped raise funds to try to build a new centre for land based education in Cumbria.”
Accounts filed on the 3rd of July with Companies house for the Newton Rigg Ltd show that it is has over £85,000 in liabilities owed to creditors of the company and £17,000 in fixed assets.