Parents, residents and students have packed two public meetings in Uppingham and Oakham to have their say on Rutland Learning Partnership's plans for a new post-16 college.

A third public meeting is due to be held tonight at Casterton Business and Enterprise College.

Under the scheme, Rutland County College would be created and based at The Rutland College and administered by Casterton Business and Enterprise College. There are also plans to build a new college in the future.

This week it was confirmed that Tresham College, which runs The Rutland College, owns the land it is on in Barleythorpe Road, Oakham.

When Tresham took over the college, the Government told Rutland County Council it must hand over ownership of the land and there was a payment of £1 to seal the deal.

However, Tresham governors have formally committed to giving 6.87 acres of the site for the new college. Tresham has not confirmed how much of the site it owns.

The principal of New College Stamford, Miles Dibsdall, has also written to Rutland County Council and the Learning and Skills Council proposing to take over The Rutland College.

Mr Dibsdall said: "The offer of takeover would enable the debate to move on and provide Rutland with the pragmatic solution to put the needs of the learners first.

"The most important thing is to provide an outstanding education for learners in Rutland and I believe New College Stamford could achieve that."

Rutland County Council and Tresham College said they had not received an approach from New College Stamford.

County councillor Heather Wells (Con), who is responsible for education, said: "Our primary concern at the moment is working to secure post-16 education in Rutland from September 2010 through our current consultation."