City of Bristol College has announced plans to shut its site in Lawrence Weston as part of its response to a £5 million funding cut.

The college will also have to axe courses at many of its other sites including its £30 million South Bristol Skills Academy, which will open in September.

About 80 full-time equivalent jobs in management, teaching and support roles in the college's workforce of 2,300 are at risk because of the cutbacks.

The college says it has been driven to make the savings because of a £5.3m drop in its funding from the Government. It says Lawrence Weston has to shut in July because it can no longer afford to modernise the facilities. The closure plan has shocked students, staff and people living in the area and a campaign has already begun to try to reverse the decision.

Paul Harrod, prospective Lib Dem MP for the area, said: "It would be a terrible thing for this centre to close, and it would leave a key community in our city completely cut off from further education provision."

Lib Dem councillor for Kingsweston, Simon Rayner, said people in the area would face a five-mile journey on expensive and unreliable public transport to access further education if the college shut. He said: "It is a disaster for people who live in Lawrence Weston."

The college's governing body approved the plans on Tuesday. The aim is to preserve essential adult courses within the reduced budget, protect frontline services, minimise job losses and provide a basis for future financial security.

A number of adult courses deemed "non-priority" by the Learning and Skills Council will be cut, including some higher education programmes previously funded by universities. The college is still deciding exactly which of more than 1,000 courses will be affected, but up to 3,000 adult learners could be hit.

The college says that provision for 16-18 year-olds will be unaffected and plans to expand it will continue.

Keith Elliott, City of Bristol College principal, said: "We have fought a vigorous campaign to have these cuts reversed and we are grateful for the support shown by our local MPs, community partners, councillors and staff unions. Despite all our efforts, we now know that no more funding will be available for 2010-11. I know that this is extremely unwelcome news for the College and for Bristol.

"A number of major employers in Bristol have recently announced job cuts, and those individuals facing redundancy might benefit from the very courses that are threatened by the cuts. To support economic recovery, the Government needs to create more opportunities for adults to retrain to gain jobs, rather than forcing colleges to cut courses"

Mr Elliott said the college had been reviewing its options to improve the accommodation and facilities at Lawrence Weston in consultation with staff.

"Significant capital investment would be required to bring it up to the standard of the rest of the college estate and this is not now possible with the reduction in funding," he said.

The college at Lawrence Weston was originally a secondary school and merged with the college of care in the 1980s. City of Bristol College took over the site in 2000 and runs a range of courses

It has about 100 staff, 96 full-time students and 270 part-time students.