Oxford Brookes &
Residents' Associations

Meeting on Wedneday, 18 November

The meeting, which was well attended, was chaired by Dr Anne Gwinnett, Director of Corporate Affairs.  A resident from Gipsy Lane expressed disappointment that Professor Janet Beer, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, was not chairing the meeting.  He felt that her presence would have been much appreciated by the residents’ associations, particularly at a time when major changes were being planned by the university.

A salaried General Manager for the Student Union, David Whittington, has been appointed.  He was present at the meeting.

In response to a request for more detailed information on the numbers of students living in private rented accommodation, Brookes had carried out a postcode analysis of its student database, and graphical representations of the results were displayed.

Mr Paul Large, Acting Registrar, said that the question of how to proceed following the City Council’s rejection of the planning application for the new student centre (Application No 09/00695/FUL) would be discussed at the Brookes Governors' meeting on 26 November.  There were two options:

·   Appeal against the City Council's decision, but there were drawbacks to this, primarily: 

o  the cost (about £200,000 for Brookes and the same amount for the Council)

o   it would set Brookes in conflict with the City Council

o  people from outside Oxford/Oxfordshire would decide what was to be done – this was not something the Governors would want

·  Produce a revised design that would be acceptable to local people and would address the problems that had led to refusal of planning consent. 

A public exhibition of the new plans currently being prepared in time for the Governors' meeting will be held on Friday, 4 December and Saturday, 5 December, in the Buckley Building (entrance on Headington Road) from 12 noon until 4 pm both days.
 

Brookes had already had talks with residents closest to the site, who would be most affected, and the public would be invited to submit further comments after seeing the new plans. 

Mr Large made it clear that the university did not intend to abandon its aim of creating a library that would fulfil the demands of today’s students.  The traditional library form is no longer adequate – students need space in a library to work on group projects, have discussions; the ‘social aspect’ has to be considered.

Other matters that arose at the meeting included:

• Landlord Accreditation Scheme
  Brookes is supporting this scheme, which has been introduced by the City Council.  Brookes will only head-lease accommodation from accredited landlords and will encourage students who are looking for accommodation to deal only with accredited landlords.  However, registration is voluntary and Dr Gwinnett felt that stronger measures were needed and that house-letting agents should be included in the accreditation.  Oxford East MP, Andrew Smith, is pressing for a mandatory licensing scheme for landlords.

• Brookes is fully funding two additional Community Support Officers, who will cover the Gipsy Lane, Headington Hill, Divinity Road and Marston Road areas.  They will start their training in January/February.   They will liaise with Andrea Siret, Customer Relations Manager, in order to tackle problem ‘hot spots’.  Tony Joyce, Chairman of the Coordinating Committee of Headington Residents Associations, said that there was a particular need for these officers at night, when most trouble occurred, and Ms Siret said that this would be taken into consideration when planning shifts.

• Brookes has won a Green Flag Award for grounds maintenance.  A new Grounds Manager, Mr Tom Williams, has been appointed.

• The university has bought its own pavement-sweeping machine for use by their own groundsmen and maintenance staff on the campus and, subject to City Council approval, pavements adjacent to the campus.

• Headington Hill Hall house has been refurbished and its weathervane reinstated.

• £250,000 funding has been obtained from SAL/X, an organisation that provides interest-free funding to public sector bodies for investment in improvements to energy efficiency.

• Four craft apprentices and two admin apprentices have been taken on.