Bishop Burton plans £13m Lincolnshire Showground move

Bishop Burton College announced plans to deliver its agricultural courses at a potential site at Lincolnshire Showground.

The plans, which would cost around £13.5 million to complete, would see the college move its further education agricultural courses from the Riseholme Campus to the showground near Lincoln.

The planned move comes after the University of Lincoln, which presently owns the lease for the Riseholme Campus, intends not to extend the lease.

Due to the amount of investment needed to keep the campus open as an educational facility, Bishop Burton College would like to move.

One of its target move areas is the Lincolnshire Showground, which is not only close to the existing campus but would also build a stronger relationship with the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society.

The new campus would mean Bishop Burton moves courses in engineering, agriculture, animal management, equine studies, horticulture and arboriculture to the new site.

The campus will house labs, workshops, animal units, a farm and halls of residence for students, taking around 3,500 square meters of land.

It will all be positioned so it will not affect various events on the Showground, such as the Lincolnshire Show.

A state-of-the-art campus would be erected on the site, with investment both from the college and grant funding from Skills Funding Agency Capital Investment Fund.

The college will find out if its bid was successful later in the year, so work could start as early as 2014.

Jeanette Dawson OBE, Chief Executive of Bishop Burton College said: “A new campus will provide a number of benefits to our students, the local area and the agricultural community in the county.

“In the longer term, the provision of hands-on practical learning will be maintained and improved through the investment in a modern, state-of-the-art campus that is fit for purpose for agriculture today.”

She added: “Bishop Burton is determined to ensure the continuation of land based provision in Lincolnshire.

“A new campus will provide new facilities and opportunities in one of the country’s best agricultural counties and allow for growth, and for closer links with its thriving agricultural community, which will help foster knowledge transfer and further applied research opportunities.”

Chair of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society John Lockwood said: “The Society is delighted and excited by the news of this project; Lincolnshire is the UK’s premier farming county and deserves first class educational facilities to provide the next generation of farmers, farm staff and advisors.”