DISABLED artist Brian Horn said today he felt "robbed and cheated" as a result of Government cutbacks to York adult learning courses.

Heart disease led to Mr Horn, a former Ryedale district and Osbaldwick parish councillor, having both his legs amputated below the knee and forced his retirement from the building trade in 1993.

For the past 18 months the 59-year-old has been doing a painting and drawing vocational course with York College at Strensall Methodist Church, and collecting credits towards his Art A-level.

But on applying to do the next stage of the course in September he was told City of York Council had taken over running the course, due to the Government stopping funding, and it no longer had the necessary accreditation to lead to an A-level.

"It's just not on. What will the Government do next? I feel like I've been robbed of one of the few pleasures I have now," said Mr Horn.

"It's really quite crushing to be told that one of the few hobbies you can actually do and enjoy is being taken away."

The Evening Press reported recently how bosses at York College and Askham Bryan College had been forced to make drastic cuts to their programme of adult learning because of a shortfall in Government funding.

In 2004-05, York College ran 482 courses. But from September, the college will only be able to offer about 60 per cent of these for the academic year 2005-06. This will mean 3,000 fewer adult learners, with 200 fewer courses. A further 15 per cent of courses which were previously subsidised will only be available at full cost from September.

The cuts have happened because the Government has not put enough money into the education system to meet all its priorities.

Both colleges said it was too early to say which courses would be axed, and exactly how many jobs would be in jeopardy as a result.

In March 1994 Mr Horn, of The Leyes, Osbaldwick, had a triple coronary bypass which itself developed further problems.

On Father's Day in 1999 he suffered a stroke followed by a heart attack. From 2000 onwards he has suffered a number of mini-strokes and still does today.

In November 2002 he had his lower left leg amputated, followed by his lower right leg in January 2003, after circulatory problems connected to his heart attacks.

Because of his disability Mr Horn had already been denied many of his previous hobbies, including hill walking and fishing, and as a result his art is very important to him.

A spokesman for City of York Council said: "Budgets for this type of course are under severe pressure, and the council made the decision that it is more important to run the programme without accreditation than pass the cost on to the students, as an accredited course would be more expensive to them."

Updated: 10:42 Wednesday, June 22, 2005