Colleges and the building industry have been left high and dry after construction plans which would have injected £450 million into Sussex's struggling economy were axed.

The Government's Learning and Skills Council (LSC) yesterday announced it would no longer be supporting schemes to redevelop eight colleges across the county.

They included proposals for Varndean College in Brighton, BHASVIC in Hove and a £100 million scheme to rebuild City College in Brighton and Hove, which included a major campus at Brighton and Hove Albion's new stadium at Falmer.

The football club's chief executive Martin Perry yesterday said the stadium had other funding sources in place and would be unaffected but spoke of his sadness for the college and his fury at LSC's appalling management.

Worthing College and Northbrook College, in Worthing, have also been hit by the cuts, along with Chichester College, Central Sussex College's Crawley campus and Sussex Downs College in Lewes and Eastbourne.

Each will now have to foot bills of millions run up after being actively encouraged by the LSC to be ambitious in design and planning.

BHASVIC principal Chris Thomson, whose staff had spent two years and £1.5 million developing plans for a 38 million extension, said: "It is a national disgrace that this has been able to happen."

The Sussex plans were among dozens to be scrapped by the LSC nationally as it announced the outcome of an emergency review after it ran out of funds.

The agency had been pursuing the target of rebuilding every college in the country and had urged principals to put together ambitious plans.

But in January it instigated a freeze and yesterday it announced it would fund just 13 projects out of 180 proposed nationally until a new review in 2011.

Even those selected have been told they will have to scale back their projects before being given the final goahead.

Only one was in the South East, at North West Kent College.

LSC chief executive Geoff Russell said: "These are the projects that will bring the greatest benefit to learners and communities across the country.

"They will have a substantial impact on the education and skills environment in their locality by transforming the condition of college buildings.

"In conjunction with wider regeneration projects to which they are integral, they will help to revitalise communities."

The Sussex colleges were yesterday waiting to discover whether they would be reimbursed the money they had spent on planning.

The LSC said it had set up a fund to mitigate their costs.

Mr Thomson said BHASVIC would not have to make any cuts because it had budgeted for the worst case scenario but added that there would be a significant knockon impact.

He said: "It is very sad. There will quite possibly be jobs that were dependent on this, not in the colleges but in the firms that were working with them on plans. It is deeply regrettable."

He insisted his governors, staffand pupils, although disappointed, would now look to move forward positively.

Mr Perry, who was chairman of City College Brighton and Hove's board while its plans were drawn up, launched a scathing attack on the LSC.

He said: "This is entirely down to the appalling management by the LSC which encouraged the colleges to go down this route.

"City College spent £4 million putting this bid together. For the LSC then to withdraw the funds, or not to have the money available, is unbelievable. The people responsible should be held to account."

His view was echoed by Tony Mernagh, chief executive of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, who said the loss of investment was a major blow to the area.

Mr Mernagh said: "The colleges here have an excellent reputation but they don't have the 21st century facilities they need.

"I would guess that, given the state of the public finances, it will now be a decade or more before any investment comes."