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Two colleges began a case at the High Court in London this week to recover Pounds 14 million of European funding from Birmingham City Council.

The Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies, and Sutton Coldfield College of Further Education, claim that the council unlawfully retained cash from the European Social Fund which should have been used for the benefit of students. They also claim that the council has no right to claw back Pounds 1.8 million which it alleges the colleges overspent while under local authority control.