The University of Lincoln may pay a whopping £1.1million for a new on-campus bridge to be built, despite making “vital” cut backs earlier this year and facing the prospect of big cuts in the future.
In light of the university’s new Business and Law faculty building, and the forecast downtime of the rail-crossings for up to 40 minutes every hour, Student Council and the SU requested research into possibly building bridge in February this year.
The planned bridge may not be situated “close” to the new building like requested. Instead it could sit outside the Admin building, crossing over the railway to rest in between the LPAC theatre and the car park.
This means it will be approximately a two minutes walking distance away from the already built bridge on the other side of the Admin building.
When the university has already taken action to reduce spending, including slashing bursaries for poorer students earlier in the year, it isn’t clear how it is able to spend £1.1million on a construction that will only save a matter of minutes for a minority of students.
There’s also discontentment between the SU ranks over this huge university expense. Dan Derricott, vice-president for academic affairs, said the bridge is “a gargantuan waste of money”. Chris Charnley, president of the SU, said: “It’s better that the bridge be there than not be there.”
Derricott replied: “I disagree.”
A University of Lincoln spokesman said: “This [potential site near to the Main Admin Building] is one of the locations being looked at for the construction of an additional bridge but alternative locations are also being evaluated, one of which is much closer to Brayford Wharf East. Feasibility work is currently taking place to determine the most appropriate position for this piece of critical infrastructure.”
The university attempted to justify its spending on the bridge by saying: “The construction of an additional bridge will reduce congestion and reliance on the existing bridge. It will also reduce the length of travel between various university locations.”
Umm….this all sounds a bit daft.. what a waste of money.. times are hard and we already have a bridge.. everything around Lincoln University is so close together.. which is one of the plus sides of the university… please put the money to better uses!
I totally agree with Katie on this one!
Ermmm… small businesses up and down the high street are the ones that suffer the most from not having a bridge. I agree that the town needs another bridge or two (how many other places can you think of that have a train line holding up everyone 4 times a day!) but like everyone has said, why is the University paying for it? This is the council’s job! And if the University is going to build one, why on this green earth would they build it so close to the other one/two? Why not put it on the main road and help out the public too?
What a joke!