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Cooking school Le Cordon Bleu will no longer build a campus in Wairarapa.
The school and the Universal College of Learning, or Ucol, said yesterday, Wellington would now be the site for the cuisine school, The Dominion Post reported.
School of Cuisine project manager Christine Beech said the decision to move the school had been partly driven by rising building costs, and renovating an existing building was more attractive.
South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said the community was "gutted" by the decision.
A partnership agreement was signed two years ago between Ucol and Le Cordon Bleu.
The Government was to provide $1.9 million for a Wairarapa Cuisine and Fine Wine project, with the School of Cuisine getting the bulk of it.
The newspaper reported that the funding was now in doubt after battles over building the school in Martinborough appeared to have shot the project down.
The cuisine school was now looking at sites in central Wellington - including along the waterfront.
The project is expected to pump more than $67 million a year into Wellington's economy.
- NZPA
