STUDENTS and the authorities at Lancaster University are locked in a row over an ornamental pond.

The £50,000 pond at Fylde College was built from funds donated by university staff so that they could have somewhere pleasant to eat outdoors in the summer.

But the students claim the pond is an unsightly waste of money and potentially dangerous.

On Friday more than 50 students armed with buckets and siphons staged a protest and began emptying the pond.

They claim they have been asking the university to take action for months but nothing has been done.

It took several hours to empty the pond which the students claim stank and was full of sludge.

"We were concerned that the pond, which initially cost £50,000, was not safe," said a spokesman for Lancaster University's Student Union, Rory Daley.

"There are no railings next to the pond so it's possible for young children to walk down the steps and straight into the water. We felt that such an expanse of water in the middle of campus along with the provision of ten bars was not a good combination. The people that were involved in emptying the pond could also testify to the fact that the pond had a horrible odour."

He added: "It was a good idea to develop the area around Fylde but clearly this pond has not succeeded in achieving what staff wanted when they invested their TEPS money in the scheme. They wanted a pleasant outdoor area to spend their lunch breaks."

A spokesman for Lancaster University, Vicky Tyrell, said: "The university has tried to develop the court yard near Fylde College into an attractive area for students, staff and visitors, improving it with disabled access and planted areas. Ways to improve the safety have already been agreed and the pool will be filled with gravel around the edges to a few inches below the surface and then planted."