Having a large student population brings both problems and rewards for councils.
Nicola Carroll finds out how Nottingham City Council is dealing with the pressures – and accentuating the positives
Nicola Carroll finds out how Nottingham City Council is dealing with the pressures – and accentuating the positives
As last week’s A-level results spell triumph or tribulation for next year’s batch of hopeful undergraduates, councils with large student populations are bracing themselves for the mayhem that ensues at the start of term.
Music blaring at 3am, traffic cones deposited in front gardens, piled up pizza boxes and other such stereotypes of student life are an infuriating reality for people living alongside them.
And, while low-level anti-social behaviour, extra pressure on waste and street-cleansing services and other problems associated with concentrations of students can’t be ignored, they need to be balanced against the economic and cultural benefits that academic institutions bring.
Nottingham City Council introduced the post of student strategy manager to maximise the advantages of two universities and a local student population of more than 55,000 – while dealing with the downsides of student life head-on.
Mike Cole, who has a social and community work background, was appointed to the role three years ago. He ensures an integrated approach to student issues is adopted across council services, particularly housing, planning, waste and environmental health, and has built effective networks with partner bodies, such as the police. He also acts as an emissary between students and permanent residents.
He says: ‘Students bring massive benefits to the city, and it wouldn’t be the same without them.’
Research by the University of Nottingham five years ago found that the net economic gain to the city was £750m then, and this can only have increased since. The universities are major local employers. And, as well as spending money with local businesses, stimulating a vibrant nightlife and café culture, and providing a highly-educated pool of workers who often remain in the city on graduating, students also act as volunteers and raised £500,000 for local charities from last year’s Rag Week.
There are a number of common complaints from town about ‘gown’, however. ‘Most students are nice but noisy, and living a different lifestyle from families and people with nine-to-five jobs.
‘If they only have one party per house per year, that can be a party every week in one street,’ Mr Cole explains.
And rubbish is always a sore point. Five or six young people living in a shared house produce a lot of waste – especially if they tend to eat a lot of takeaways. Because students are only temporary residents, and have little impetus to maintain properties, and landlords won’t invest in student houses, neighbourhoods tend to look scruffy. Parking is also an issue, as they tend to have a number of cars per household.
Peak times for refuse problems are at the start and end of term, and the council has already started planning 10 months ahead for the rubbish surge which occurs when students go home in the summer.
Other activities to address local people’s concerns include more residents’ parking schemes, stickers on wheelie bins, and action days to get particular student-dominated streets tidied. The council has stalls at both Nottingham Trent and Nottingham University’s freshers’ fairs, and distributes directories encouraging students to make the most of local facilities and behave responsibly as neighbours.
Both permanent residents and students are represented on key committees in an attempt to balance their needs.
Much of the resentment which brews between students and locals centres around housing, as students are concentrated in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) which dominate certain areas. HMO ‘action zones’ have been established by the council in two such areas.
The council is lobbying ministers for a change to planning regulations, which would mean permission to change family homes to HMOs would be necessary.
Nottingham’s Balanced communities student housing action plan brings all the key partners together in the city, including the student housing charity Unipol, to address mainstream residents’ concerns and also improve the standard of student accommodation.
Nottingham has formed networks with other authorities with large student populations, which are now learning from each other.
Cllr Dave Trimble, the city council’s portfolio holder for culture, leisure and communities, has been instrumental in setting up the ‘Councillors’ campaign for balanced communities’. This brings authorities together to share solutions to issues associated with high student numbers, and has held two conferences in Nottingham.
Reaping the benefits of a large student population is important to the city council’s regeneration and social sustainability objectives. And a number of other authorities have shown an interest in introducing the student strategy manager post.
While university life and the university of life may seem miles apart, the role offers a bridge between the two.
Music blaring at 3am, traffic cones deposited in front gardens, piled up pizza boxes and other such stereotypes of student life are an infuriating reality for people living alongside them.
And, while low-level anti-social behaviour, extra pressure on waste and street-cleansing services and other problems associated with concentrations of students can’t be ignored, they need to be balanced against the economic and cultural benefits that academic institutions bring.
Nottingham City Council introduced the post of student strategy manager to maximise the advantages of two universities and a local student population of more than 55,000 – while dealing with the downsides of student life head-on.
Mike Cole, who has a social and community work background, was appointed to the role three years ago. He ensures an integrated approach to student issues is adopted across council services, particularly housing, planning, waste and environmental health, and has built effective networks with partner bodies, such as the police. He also acts as an emissary between students and permanent residents.
He says: ‘Students bring massive benefits to the city, and it wouldn’t be the same without them.’
Research by the University of Nottingham five years ago found that the net economic gain to the city was £750m then, and this can only have increased since. The universities are major local employers. And, as well as spending money with local businesses, stimulating a vibrant nightlife and café culture, and providing a highly-educated pool of workers who often remain in the city on graduating, students also act as volunteers and raised £500,000 for local charities from last year’s Rag Week.
There are a number of common complaints from town about ‘gown’, however. ‘Most students are nice but noisy, and living a different lifestyle from families and people with nine-to-five jobs.
‘If they only have one party per house per year, that can be a party every week in one street,’ Mr Cole explains.
And rubbish is always a sore point. Five or six young people living in a shared house produce a lot of waste – especially if they tend to eat a lot of takeaways. Because students are only temporary residents, and have little impetus to maintain properties, and landlords won’t invest in student houses, neighbourhoods tend to look scruffy. Parking is also an issue, as they tend to have a number of cars per household.
Peak times for refuse problems are at the start and end of term, and the council has already started planning 10 months ahead for the rubbish surge which occurs when students go home in the summer.
Other activities to address local people’s concerns include more residents’ parking schemes, stickers on wheelie bins, and action days to get particular student-dominated streets tidied. The council has stalls at both Nottingham Trent and Nottingham University’s freshers’ fairs, and distributes directories encouraging students to make the most of local facilities and behave responsibly as neighbours.
Both permanent residents and students are represented on key committees in an attempt to balance their needs.
Much of the resentment which brews between students and locals centres around housing, as students are concentrated in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) which dominate certain areas. HMO ‘action zones’ have been established by the council in two such areas.
The council is lobbying ministers for a change to planning regulations, which would mean permission to change family homes to HMOs would be necessary.
Nottingham’s Balanced communities student housing action plan brings all the key partners together in the city, including the student housing charity Unipol, to address mainstream residents’ concerns and also improve the standard of student accommodation.
Nottingham has formed networks with other authorities with large student populations, which are now learning from each other.
Cllr Dave Trimble, the city council’s portfolio holder for culture, leisure and communities, has been instrumental in setting up the ‘Councillors’ campaign for balanced communities’. This brings authorities together to share solutions to issues associated with high student numbers, and has held two conferences in Nottingham.
Reaping the benefits of a large student population is important to the city council’s regeneration and social sustainability objectives. And a number of other authorities have shown an interest in introducing the student strategy manager post.
While university life and the university of life may seem miles apart, the role offers a bridge between the two.
