Most areas of Park Lane College Keighley are "inadequate", according to Government inspectors.

The Ofsted team, which visited the college in January, has blasted its leadership, standards of achievement and effectiveness of provision.

The capacity of the college to improve was classed only as "satisfactory", despite the arrival of a new management team last autumn.

The college's principal said she was disappointed with the latest findings but argued she and her colleagues were aware of the problems and were working to resolve them.

The Ofsted report comes two years after a previous inspection team also branded the college as mostly inadequate.

The college was assessed in 12 areas using a system of four grades. On this scale grade one is outstanding, grade two good, grade three satisfactory and grade four inadequate.

A total of seven of the college's assessed areas were described as inadequate and the remaining five were classed as satisfactory.

Among the subject areas described as inadequate were engineering and manufacturing, information and communication technology and preparation for life and work.

The inspectors' report concluded: "Teaching and learning and the guidance and support for learners are inadequate and do not concur with the college's own judgment.

"Despite vigorous work by new managers to address recently identified areas for improvement in teaching and learning, there is still insufficient good or better teaching."

Maxine Room, the principal of Park Lane College, said: "Although disappointed, we are not surprised by the problem areas noted by Ofsted.

"The key issues are already part of a long-term strategy that was devised by Park Lane last year in order to start to move Keighley into a better position.

"It was unfortunate that the latest inspection fell only five months into the Park Lane-Keighley College merger, as the improvements necessary at the college will take time to implement fully.

"Many of the issues noted are retrospective and refer to the institution pre-merger.

"There are some positive points to the report, however, including a grade two (good) for the college's 14-16 work, and pockets of good work within larger subject areas, and these should not be lost in the overall report.

"I have every confidence that we will be able to move the college to a better position with enough time, effort and dedication, particularly from Keighley's incredibly loyal staff."

Keighley Mayor Councillor Brian Hudson said he thought Ofsted had given the college a raw deal.

"I think it's suffered from the knock-on effect of the transition from Keighley College to Park Lane College Keighley," he said.

"How can they be judged from less than a year's performance? The new management obviously took over an ailing organisation and they can't change things overnight."

Mick Milner, who sits on the college's advisory board and is the managing director of Leach and Thompson foundry, conceded the Ofsted report was "not brilliant".

However, he also said it was unfair to judge new college managers who had only been in place for about six months.