Post 70 – 03/06/2024 – Surrey Live & BBC News (7 Minute Read including Articles)
Last week we made the papers.
This is the link to the Surrey Live article:
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-residents-fear-university-expansion-29232902
The BBC then picked up the story which was a bit of an unexpected bonus.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd11vwd7qg4o
The exposure that these articles have given to the subject is of course fantastic; hopefully it will get more people talking about the impacts that RHUL’s growth is having on our community and we must publicly thank Chris Caulfield for choosing to write about the issue.
It was interesting to see RHUL’s responses to the concerns put to them though. Even though the university recently recruited a new ‘Public Engagement Manager’, Ms Minna Ruohonen, the same well-rehearsed lines came out: that it took ‘being a good neighbour seriously’ and I was just waiting for the line ‘a reduction in complaints year-on-year’- I wasn’t disappointed.
RHUL also conflated the argument by highlighting non-related issues such as “award-winning volunteering initiatives to community events”. We don’t dispute that the community benefits from some of the students taking up volunteering opportunities and that we all like a concert from time to time. These are good things but RHUL is not alone in doing this type of PR: many companies contribute to their communities but manage to do so without causing harm to those communities at the same time.
What we want to see is RHUL putting mitigations in place to reduce the harm caused by its ongrowing growth. Where is it planning to house its students for example? Is it going to use its conduct policy to manage students that are persistently anti-social? Is it going to provide more parking spaces on its campus?
On the subject of accommodation, we felt it quite audacious that the RHUL spokesperson claimed that housing is discussed at the Royal Holloway and Runnymede Consultative Group (RHRCG) meetings. The only time housing has been raised in recent years is when Estate Director Mike Berry advised the November 2023 meeting that RHUL was exploring a Head Lease scheme in response to the pending Renters (Reform) Bill.
There has been speculation in the national media that landlords of HMOs might leave the rental market because of new rules on short-term tenancies in the draft legislation and we believe that RHUL’s comments prove that the university has a vested interest in there being an abundance of HMOs in the local community to help fill the gap in accommodation caused by its own inadequate provision. We further believe that the university will be keen to see even more HMOs in the community to support its expansion plans now that it has put the development of a student village at Rusham Park on ice. Instead of providing solutions, both of these measures will exacerbate the problems for the local community and we are sure that the university is well aware of this.
We were also taken aback when we read that the university claimed that it was ‘working closely with RBC’. Some residents may not be aware that, earlier this year, members of Runnymede Borough Council’s Overview & Scrutiny committee invited Royal Holloway to attend one of its committee meetings to discuss concerns about the proliferation of student HMOs and the university’s expansion plans but it declined and submitted a written statement instead. I am not sure this constitutes working closely with RBC.
Last week I made my banner for this Saturday’s community event. It reads, ‘RHUL DOES NOT CARE.’ (See below). Having looked at RHUL and its behaviour for some time now I am confident with that statement when it comes to the university’s attitude towards the local community. And having read these recent news articles, the regurgitated platitudes they offer no longer wash with me. What we need is solutions.
Best wishes,
We Need To Talk About Royal Holloway
Notices:
- Saturday 8th June: Event Details.
https://weneedtotalkaboutroyalholloway.com/event/ - For the benefit of people that have recently joined this group:
https://weneedtotalkaboutroyalholloway.com/timeline/ - Our Home Page that tells you more about us:
https://weneedtotalkaboutroyalholloway.com/ - To discuss the problems surrounding RHUL, consider joining the WNTT Forum Whatsapp group:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/BQmFKEHSa6gLsU55FU8QxN - This Weekend’s Post? A Surrey Police Story. (We’re trying to finish this article and hope to get out before Saturday. Unfortunately time has been a problem – if we are unsuccessful we will get it out shortly afterwards.)