After calling a public meeting to listen to the view of the people in Romsey about a proposal to build accommodation for 331 students on Mill Road, Dave attended a City Council meeting armed with some of your questions

Romsey’s Labour Candidate Dave Baigent says:

I took advantage of the public speaking opportunity at the full City Council meeting (3-4-14) to stick up for families, singles  and students living in Romsey and my full statement appears at the end of this page.

In brief I indicated that the overview of our meeting was that most residents opposed the McLaren proposal – arguing that it would be better as a mixture of affordable and owner occupier housing.  I also indicated that some residents supported a view that the site could include some student accommodation.

I drew attention to:

• the council’s own Mill Road Development Brief 2007 (page 7 and 20) which indicates that the site should be used for mixed use housing and could include a student hostel for Anglia Ruskin on part of the site in lieu of affordable housing?

• the council’s own 2006 plan (section 7/50) ‘To restrict future developments of student accommodation to ensure that it is only available to full time students from Anglia Ruskin or the University of Cambridge’

I spoke about an imbalance between family and student occupation of local houses and how a failure to enforce the restrictions above had led to crammer and EFL schools putting their students in accommodation that had been granted planning permission on the grounds that it was restricted to ARU/UC students.  The result being that ARU and CU students move into family accommodation in Romsey.

I pointed out that residents were not anti-student and that there was a considerable concern that students too have housing problems.  Nonetheless there remains a very real concern about an increasing imbalance between families and students living in family accommodation in Romsey, and how this was now affecting the cost of rentals and makes an increasingly difficult car parking problem worse.

I asked for clarification about numbers of student in Romsey.

Councillor Smart was able to produce some data on numbers suggesting that ‘8.5% of Romsey housing was taken by students and adding that ‘this doesn’t fit the idea of a student takeover.’

IF your councillor knocks on your door, you may want to ask them if student accommodation, which was built with a specific planning condition that only ARU or Cambridge students should occupy it, is being used by crammers and language schools?

AND if the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘I don’t know’.

Then you may want to ask them what are they doing about it!MORE about the Romsey Labour Team and their candidate for the May election

Have you seen the Coldhams Common page?- there is a real problem that the railway could solve by compromising

Residents complained that the crossing in Vinery Road was dangerous and we knocked on doors to get local views and then asked the council for a safety audit.  The council agreed and acted to make the crossing safer – with Dave is Sarah Brown Chair of Anglia UCU.

Reg couldn’t get a parking space for his disabled wife, Dave struggled with the council who refused and then came up with an idea.  He made two signs asking people not to park in this spot and screwed them to Reg’s wall.  Outcome – most people respect the signs.

Our candidate is always out and about in Romsey speaking to local residents.  Here he is on Mill Road – you have probably seen him.  If you have a problem talk to him about it.  Reg above did and you can see the result!  The residents on Vinery Road did, and the crossing was improved. So to did the residents of Great Eastern Street!

Residents of Great Eastern Street complained that the play area had been taken over by street drinkers rendering it unusable as a play area.
We carried out a survey in Great Eastern street and Dave met with the community safety team, the police and council. The result was the area was opened up and street drinkers moved to a safer spot.

The Romsey Labour Team fully supported the campaign to reduce the density of flats planned for the Ridgeons site

Romsey Labour Team are proud that we live in a very mixed community and were a key part of the March against the EDL in Cambridge

When the EDL placed their flag at Cambridge’s War Memorial Dave was one of four who stood and protested.

The Cambridge Labour Party then acted to get the council to clear up the unwanted items!

Romsey Labour raised money for Romsey Mill at the Winter Fair.

Environmental Issues

Supporting the environment is an important issue and Romsey Labour are closely involved in the debates over Coldhams Common and have been really hands on in helping to clear rubbish from Cherry Hinton Brook.

Equality and Public Service

Romsey Labour believe strongly in public service and equality.  Our candidates experience as a firefighter for over 31 years provides him with a real insight to how people suffer and their need for well equipped and resourced public services.  On retirement Dave completed a first degree and a PhD in Sociology and this provided a real knowledge of why people suffered from inequality.

Marching against facism in London (March 2014)

Our candidate for the May election served as a firefighter for over 30 years

He then went on to be a mature student, get a first degree and then a Phd in Sociology, which led to him being an academic who wrote and led FDA and BA courses on Public Service at Anglia Ruskin.

Dave says it was great being a firefighter but my years at Anglia Ruskin helping students to gain knowledge was equally rewarding.  There is nothing better than being there at student’s graduations and watching them get their awards.

Residents complained that the crossing in Vinery Road was dangerous and we knocked on doors to get local views and then asked the council for a safety audit.  The council agreed and acted to make the crossing safer – with Dave is Sarah Brown Chair of Anglia UCU.

Reg couldn’t get a parking space for his disabled wife, Dave struggled with the council who refused and then came up with an idea.  He made two signs asking people not to park in this spot and screwed them to Reg’s wall.  Outcome – most people respect the signs.

Our candidate is always out and about in Romsey speaking to local residents.  Here he is on Mill Road – you have probably seen him.  If you have a problem talk to him about it.  Reg above did and you can see the result!  The residents on Vinery Road did, and the crossing was improved. So to did the residents of Great Eastern Street!

Residents of Great Eastern Street complained that the play area had been taken over by street drinkers rendering it unusable as a play area.
We carried out a survey in Great Eastern street and Dave met with the community safety team, the police and council. The result was the area was opened up and street drinkers moved to a safer spot.

The Romsey Labour Team fully supported the campaign to reduce the density of flats planned for the Ridgeons site

Romsey Labour Team are proud that we live in a very mixed community and were a key part of the March against the EDL in Cambridge

When the EDL placed their flag at Cambridge’s War Memorial Dave was one of four who stood and protested.

The Cambridge Labour Party then acted to get the council to clear up the unwanted items!

Romsey Labour raised money for Romsey Mill at the Winter Fair.

Environmental Issues

Supporting the environment is an important issue and Romsey Labour are closely involved in the debates over Coldhams Common and have been really hands on in helping to clear rubbish from Cherry Hinton Brook.

Equality and Public Service

Romsey Labour believe strongly in public service and equality.  Our candidates experience as a firefighter for over 31 years provides him with a real insight to how people suffer and their need for well equipped and resourced public services.  On retirement Dave completed a first degree and a PhD in Sociology and this provided a real knowledge of why people suffered from inequality.

Marching against facism in London (March 2014)

Our candidate for the May election served as a firefighter for over 30 years

He then went on to be a mature student, get a first degree and then a Phd in Sociology, which led to him being an academic who wrote and led FDA and BA courses on Public Service at Anglia Ruskin.

Dave says it was great being a firefighter but my years at Anglia Ruskin helping students to gain knowledge was equally rewarding.  There is nothing better than being there at student’s graduations and watching them get their awards.

Our candidates presentation to the council  3-4-14

I want to raise an issue about Romsey, in particular about the proposal by McClaren to build accommodation for 331 students on Mill Road

 

I also want to ask the ‘Executive Councillor for Housing’ some questions and I have given prior notice of these.

 

I start by referring to an open meeting that I organised to give the residents of Romsey a voice at this very early stage of the proposal.

 

This meeting was attended by over 80 residents and I would like to thank Councillor’s Smart and Moghadas for attending.

 

I also thank the planning officers who attended and provided such valuable assistance.

 

The overview of the meeting was that the meeting opposed the proposed development – Arguing that it would be better as a mixed development of family housing, – Although some people could see a need for a mix of student and family housing.

 

Having given forewarning of the area of the following two questions: I would first like to ask the executive councillor if they agree with the requirement of the 2006 local plan (section 7/50) —  To restrict future developments of student accommodation to ensure that it is only available to full time students from Anglia Ruskin or the University of Cambridge?

 

Second I ask, does the executive councillor agree with the contents of the Mill Road Development Brief 2007 page 7 and 20 –  That the site should be used for mixed use housing and could include a student hostel for Anglia Ruskin on part of the site in lieu of affordable housing?

 

I return to the concerns of residents from the meeting, – This time to represent their views about an imbalance between family and student occupation of local houses.

Residents are clearly not anti-student because this is the life blood of this city,  and there was a considerable concern that students too have housing problems.

 

However, residents mood is best put by an owner occupier who had bought one of six, four bedroomed houses in a new development on Cromwell Road.

He now finds that the other five 4 bedroomed houses were  purchased by buy-to-let landlords.

These houses are now occupied by students who between them have 18 cars.

There were a number other residents who voiced concerns about the balance between families and the students in Romsey and how this affects the market and the cost of rentals.

 

Surely this is not the way forward for a town and gown balance?  If the universities are going to increase their student numbers as they do year on year, then they do have a responsibility to house their students and I hope the executive councilor would agree with me?

 

So my last question, which I have also given notice of, is to ask how much purpose built accommodation for Anglia Ruskin students is there in Cambridge?

and

How many students are renting houses and flats that were built as family accommodation in Romsey?

 

 

I understand that there have been a number of blocks of student accommodation such as Scholars House, on the Brunswick site and Varsity house that have been built specifically for Anglia Ruskin and Cambridge students and that the CB1 site will contain 1700 units with a similar restriction.

 

This type of accommodation is one example of how to ease the difficulties of students at our two universities and should go a long way to ease the burden on the shortage of all shapes and sizes of family homes in Cambridge.

Can the councilor tell me if this planning restriction is monitored?   And by whom?   And if in the case of Varsity house where I understand the whole 250 units of accommodation have been take over by CATS, crammer and foreign language colleges, what is being done about it?

I would also like to ask the executive councilor if she agrees with the more market based approach to higher education that the current government, including her party  appears to support, and if this should mean that the universities in Cambridge including Anglia Ruskin should be responsible for the provision of students accommodation and not take too many houses out of what could be termed the family sector?