February 26, 2018 7.11 pm This story is over 72 months old

Lincoln council to fund Brayford clean-up after second floating restaurant rejection

Money for dredging and improvements to Brayford Pool instead.

The City of Lincoln Council will fund improvements to Brayford Pool after rejecting controversial plans for a second floating restaurant.

The council’s executive rejected on Monday night plans for the proposed £1 million restaurant located west of the viewing platform on Brayford Wharf North.

Initial plans were refused by the council’s planning committee in September 2016, but the decision was overruled by the Planning Inspectorate 13 months later following an appeal by the Brayford Trust and Investors in Lincoln.

Now, council chiefs have said they will offer a £25,000 grant plus a loan which is yet to be determined to the Brayford Trust in order to carry out dredging and improvement works to the pool.

The trust receives no income to carry out these works itself except revenues from the first floating restaurant currently home to Wagamama.

The viewing platform on the Brayford

Councillor Fay Smith said she hoped the council and the trust could arrive at a “win win” situation.

She said: “I think it’s a shame that we could not have a discussion with the trust before the application was put in.

“I’m very sad as to how it’s happened until now. But I think we are taking a reasonable position.”

Councillor Rosanne Kirk commended the Brayford Trust for the work they have done on the pool.

“The trust has done a lot of good work and it’s a pool that is at the heart of our history,” she said.

“We should be protecting it and we understand the reasons they had for this application.

“I feel personally that we need to protect it, it’s at the heart of where we come from.”