'The Snooty Local Councillor'

It's a rainy afternoon in Brum just like it was in Leeds for the rest of last week at the recent training course I attended run by UNIPOL and NUS. I can safely say this was the most useful training course I've been on so far and it was extremely informative. UNIPOL knows the student housing market inside out and provided a wealth of information on current trends in the student housing sector, legal issues, regulation, community issues, accreditation and students unions' relationship with the institution. I gathered many statistics and gained shared experience around housing issues that will be particularly relevant in the months to come. We even had a mock Community Forum when I was able to be the snooty Local Councillor that didn't like Students' Unions, which was nice.

Also, on Monday I attended a very productive meeting about the Landlord Accreditation Scheme when a complaints procedure was finally nailed down and will make the scheme a lot more robust when it comes to dealing with landlords who are not adhering to it's principles. It will also help when my idea of the one-stop shop for housing and community takes shape. This morning we're off to Action through Advocacy NUS Training for my third multiple day training course and I'm returning to the de Haviland campus at Hertfordshire Uni, which I think may be a slightly snooty name for a campus but never mind, see you soon!

First full week - the University, Welcome Week and the crime increase in Selly Oak

Seen as its Friday afternoon I just thought I'd update you on what I've been doing in my first full week as Vice President Housing and Community. I've already met with Hospitality and Accommodation Services (HAS) at the university and informed them of some of my intentions for the year. My one stop shop for housing and community issues for students seems something that they will be able to get behind and I will be grateful for the resource. The volunteering showcase is also something that will have the university's support. On Tuesday I also had lunch with some officers from UCL who came to visit the Guild and see what we do. They told tales of governance problems galore - they had massive difficulty getting their governance review through their Union Council and the whole process was derailed for them to pick up again now! I've never been more grateful for the referendum!

We are currently in the process of going through the Welcome Crew applications so those of you waiting for an answer will be receiving a reply in due course, I'm sure you will appreciate the volume of applications we have had and that it takes some time to go through all of these. The RA booklets that go out to Freshers with their accommodation offers have gone to HAS and will be sent out, they look fantastic thanks to our wonderful Marketing and Communications Department.

Finally I've also started to attend the community meetings which I am required to attend to represent you: the students. The Selly Oak Acquisitive Crime Group focuses on burglary and vehicle damage. Unfortunately it appears that domestic burglary has increased in Bournbrook from the same period last year, however that means that the Council will likely pour money into the area to bring the statistics down including approval of more money for more installations of computrace, which allows the Police to trace stolen laptops and recover them, the scheme has been 100% successful since it was piloted last year. I also attended a crime meeting about the city centre and much of it was focused on the need for crime prevention in clubs, pubs and bars where many valuables are stolen, also with an emphasis on the fact that the items you come home without may simply be lost property and many clubs keep lost property safe for you to pick up at a later date. Creative schemes to help protect students' property when they are out is currently being developed. Next week, I will hopefully be heading out to Leeds to attend a Housing and Community training conference and I'll blog about that when I get back, in the mean-time; have a great weekend!

The Year Ahead

As I said in my last blog I now have some completely formed ideas about what a successful year for me will look like. Along with representing students in the community, to the university and co-ordinating Residence Associations, I have some key aims that I will achieve to clearly benefit students; all of them derived from my manifesto that you the students elected me on. I have three main aims with many other smaller priorities:

1) Halls of Residence Fees - Rents at this university are astronomically high compared to other universities of our stature. I will work with Hospitality and Accommodation Services to find alternative ways of funding the current system rather than passing on the burden to students who already face spiralling debts at university. However if the answer that is worked towards is not adequate for students I am not afraid of a campaign that will show the university the strength of feeling within the student body on this issue. The issue has to be taken seriously as it is not only affecting the reputation of the university but it is also blowing a huge hole in first-years pockets. You elected me to run a cross campus campaign and I will do so if the conclusions reached with the University to make it easier for students are not adequate to you as students, and the university should be prepared for that.

2) Improving Accreditation and making it easier for students to move to private housing - We are currently looking into the possibility of having a space within the Guild that is a one stop shop for Housing and Community. It will be a place where only accredited landlords can advertise once a robust complaints procedure is up and running, making it a trusted letting agent for students where they can get a house from a reputable landlord and have an ability to officially complain with the landlords fearing reprisal. It will cut out the uncertainty of searching for a house amongst the letting agents in Selly Oak, eliminating unfair letting fees and bad advice. It will also serve as an advice centre on housing issues and will be the base for the already exceptional Community Warden Scheme. This is a long term project in a very public partnership with the university but there will hopefully be scope for a temporary vehicle for the service this year before it is hopefully written into the building redevelopment.

3) Improve Community Relations - Too often the negative aspect of students in the community is focused on and stereotypes about students are perpetuated by the odd occurrence of poor behaviour. I want to focus on the positive aspects of our work in the community and will organise and execute a community showcase on campus for local residents, councillors, emergency services, business owners or anyone who has a stake in the local community to show how amazing our volunteering projects and different community schemes are. Hopefully this will help to alleviate the animosity sometimes felt between students and permanent local residents.

4) Other aims:

• Make the Housing Roadshow bigger and better
• Drop-in sessions on campus and at halls of residence sites for students moving into private housing
• Campaign for lighting in Selly Park along with Hollie
• Lobby for Wheely Bins in Selly Oak
• Lobby for recycling bins in first-year flats
• Sshhh campaign
• Consolidate the 'Rate Our Landlord' website

These are the aims I will seek to achieve this year and I have some key success parameters that I will strive to meet. I will update you on my progress throughout my blogs and Guild Council reports while also informing you of the other activities I have undertaken on your behalf, hope you're having a great summer!

The beginning...

I've now been in post for three working days and I'm already incredibly motivated to get on with projects and start making tangible changes that benefit you. To update you on the end of our training since my last blog we've been going through a really intense two weeks. Our NUS Regional Officer Emily Cannon did some in-house training which really got us thinking and we were all really appreciative of the work she did with us. We went through some more 1-2-1 handover and I met the different halls of residence site managers interspersed with presentations from the university.

Our two-day vision setting session facilitated by Barry an outside consultant crystallised my aims in my mind and I now know definitively what I want to achieve for students and I know my parameters for success. There are certain priorities - more important than others - and I know exactly what I need to do to be successful. The session was very useful for me and it also allowed the team to develop a calendar for the year relating everything back to our Officer Group's personal mission statement. Finally on the last day in July we travelled to Alton Towers on a fun Sabbatical day out after a hard month. Myself, Mark and Hollie won some prizes - Rich and Tom were hopeless at the games and Jen gave me possibly the funniest moments of my life on 'Air'. On the first we moved into the offices and yesterday had a day-long presentation from Academic services.

I would like to thank Naush for a fantastic handover and for being an amazing friend over the past year - you have always been there for me and I will miss you so so much - I can never live up to what an incredible VPHC you have been. I leave you with some more pictures again; the first is me in the new office. The next is a picture of me and Naush from the Guild Awards and the last symbolises the end of handover - me and Mark leaving Alton Towers with our winnings.