WhatsApp News Feed Posts – 2026
Post 106 – 18/01/26 – A Question Of Priorities
This week we heard that Royal Holloway has submitted a planning application to enhance its Sports Centre, application RU.25/1813, a new Fitness Suite.
You can view the details using the application number above and the link below.
https://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/GeneralSearch.aspx
On first inspection the plan looks relatively modest, replacing the existing building with something similar in size, perhaps reflecting the university having to tighten its belt and/ or the site’s sensitive Green Belt location.
But, as only mentioned a couple of posts ago, why should this be of interest to us? What they do on their land with their money should be of no concern to us…
From a management perspective, investing in a new fitness suite makes sense. Getting bums on seats is important and we imagine the existing gym, last refurbished in 2014, acts as a deterrent for some, if not many, prospective students.
But I do wonder about how Royal Holloway’s SLT run their affairs. From a university that, ‘takes being a good neighbour seriously’, should a replacement gym really be its next capital investment priority?
It is pretty safe to say that a new gym wouldn’t feature very high up in any academic faculty wish list. And we can even say with some certainty that it is not wanted by many students – an improved Sports Centre didn’t even make it into the ‘Top 20’ of the Student Union priorities last year, let alone the Priority 8.
https://www.su.rhul.ac.uk/elections/2025/priority8
Perhaps some local residents want it? Royal Holloway Sport does offer a Community Membership after all. But we don’ t know any members to ask, perhaps some do?
But what is wanted by the community (both by students and local residents) and in large numbers and as a matter of urgency, is for Royal Holloway to address its parking capacity problem. Would it not have been more sensible for the SLT to prioritise tackling this problem first?
Yes, a shiny new multi-storey car park in the prospectus is not as appealing as a shiny new fitness suite but sometimes you really do have to spend money on things you don’t really want. For example, what homeowner wants to spend money on repairing their leaking roof when they have been eyeing up a new garden room for the kids? Most responsible homeowners know that unfortunately, they need to deal with the roof first, even though the garden room is what they really want.
At the end of the day it is all about priorities and it would appear that dealing with its lack of capacity is not really a priority for the SLT.
But perhaps that is unfair: perhaps the SLT has a plan to address their chronic parking capacity shortage? A cunning plan perhaps?
Well this week we thought we share Royal Holloway’s latest idea to help ease the parking pressure on residential streets – a new Resident’s Parking Permit scheme. And no, it’s not the one that you are thinking of: the broad brush strokes of this particular permit scheme goes something like this…
Local residents would be invited to apply to Royal Holloway for an overnight permit to use one of its car parks, Car Park 14. The permit would enable the holder to park their vehicle between 1900 to 0700, TBC. The idea being that any local residents returning home after 1900, if they were unable to park in their street or any of the neighbouring streets, could park in Car Park 14 without fear of penalty.
Pretty generous eh?
Agreed. We too think this is one of the most ill-thought through, stomach punching ideas put forward yet; up there with the Campus Parking App initiative, another low cost solution that has been recently mooted.
The local community doesn’t want sticking plasters. It wants the root causes of the problem tackled and a proper solution put forward. In my street’s WhatsApp group, this latest idea was quickly shot down with not one resident supporting it. The underlying sentiment can be summarised as follows:
‘So when I come back from (work/ the shops/ my club/ whatever, take your pick) I can park in Car Park 14, approximately a 300/ 400 yard walk from my front door. I then need to get up and move it again by 0700. And this is so that some of Royal Holloway’s people can continue to use the street that I live in as a Long Stay Car Park? It beggar’s belief.’
And we agree, it’s pretty unpalatable. When will the SLT learn that it cannot continue to treat the local community with such contempt?
To conclude, I thought I would share a quote: Capt. Edmund Blackadder no less. He uses this line when mocking the utter incompetence and mismanagement of the war effort in Blackadder Goes Forth.
‘A war hasn’t been fought this badly since Olaf the Hairy, High Chief of all the Vikings, accidentally ordered 80,000 battle helmets with the horns on the inside’.
We might have to have a play around with this for this summer’s Photocall. ‘A university hasn’t been run this badly since….’
Best wishes,
We Need to Talk About Royal Holloway
Notices
- To read past posts, please visit:
https://weneedtotalkaboutroyalholloway.com/contact-us/ - To take part in this discussion, you need to join the WNTTARH Forum Whatsapp group:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/BQmFKEHSa6gLsU55FU8QxN - Home Page:
https://weneedtotalkaboutroyalholloway.com/ - Future Posts: Unkempt Gardens & Yards, A Sorry Police Story, Royal Holloway’s Marketing Machine and RHRCG Meeting Updates.
- If you have a story relating to the handling of Royal Holloway student related issues, good or bad, we would like to hear from you. Please send an email with a brief outline and someone will get back to you:
enquiries@weneedtotalkaboutroyalholloway.com - For the benefit of people that have recently joined this group:
https://weneedtotalkaboutroyalholloway.com/timeline/ - Video:
https://youtu.be/m-MwklZ-jZc?si=KiHyH7bqq-jRQc6d