The University of Cambridge has had its public funding for the maintenance of its historic buildings cut by a third over the past year, data published by the Labour Party has revealed.

The data uncovers that the government has reduced the amount it allocates to universities for capital works from £243.2m in 2011/12 to £182m this year.

The drop follows even deeper cuts in previous years. In 2010/11, the amount allocated nationwide was £455m.

Professor Steve Young, Cambridge's Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor, expressed concern at the news. "The university council have had to divert operational funds to our capital programme in order to keep essential building projects on track, but this is not sustainable in the long term," he said.

Prof. Young added that a further reduction in funding "would be extremely damaging to our ability to respond flexibly to future needs."

Students at the university were similarly worried about the long-term effects of the cuts. Will Martin, a student at Queens', said the news was a "massive shame", since "the 700-year-old college buildings are what create the distinct, charming atmosphere of Cambridge".

Reacting to the idea that funds might have to be diverted from other areas such as tuition and research, Martin suggested that an equilibrium needed to be found so that neither teaching nor the university's heritage was put at risk.

Robert Hawkins, a History of Art student at King's, suggested that in a period of unavoidable cuts, the "price" placed on historic buildings should be higher. While recognising the potentially irreversible social effects of funding cuts, he said: "the material art historian in me wants to look after the 'stuffness' of our history, and let the social pain muddle itself along."

Meanwhile, Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, sought to blame the last Labour government for the difficult situation in which the university finds itself.

He told Varsity: “There is no doubt that Cambridge University faces huge expense in upkeeping its historical university buildings and it is vital that we make sure that teaching and resources do not suffer as a result.

“In order to ensure that, an Historic Building Targeted Allowance was put in place to provide money to help the university and others with historic buildings to maintain them. Cambridge University received around £4 million from the fund; but just before the last general election Labour decided to scrap this fund to save £40 million and the university lost its grant.

“This decision came at a time when Labour was cutting around £500 million from university spending as a whole including over £200 million from teaching budgets and £144 million from the fund designed to encourage young people from poorer backgrounds to attend university."

Huppert reaffirmed his opposition to university tuition fees, while defending current government policy, saying: “Since coming to power, we have tried to address this appalling under-investment in our universities. We have secured around £1.5 billion worth of capital investment for university research and set up a £150 million National Scholarship Scheme to help disadvantaged young people go to university with the help of bursaries and grants.

“But we know there is still more to do if we are to make sure our universities are to hold onto their enviable global reputations."