The University of Bath’s student union president has asked Bath and North East Somerset Council if they will work with the university to tackle high student rents.
University of Bath SU President Alexander Robinson with community officer Blake Walker | Photo © John Wimperis
Addressing the council’s annual meeting on Thursday 25th June, its first meeting since the local elections, SU president Alexander Robinson said: “I come in support of the tens of thousands of student residents who live within Bath and North East Somerset and make up roughly one third of the population of the city of Bath.
“Students contribute significantly to the local economy in Bath, through spending in local businesses, renting, working, or in the cultural capital that makes Bath such a vibrant place to live.”
But he warned that students were facing high rents, explaining: “At the moment universities find themselves renting buildings from private companies through nominations agreements in order to house students in the city, often at high rates which are passed on to students.”
In Centurion House on the cricket ground development, he said students are paying £220 a week for a single room — a total of £11,000 a year. But this was far from the highest rents students could pay.
He said: “In the private sector over the road at Student Castle, rooms start at £330 a week — that’s £17,000 a year.”
Mr Robinson asked the council to look at what had been done in Nottingham, where the city council is working with universities on a “Student Living Strategy,” and to form a group with the university to work on something similar.
He said their strategy aimed to improve “quality, safety, affordability, and location of accommodation.”
He said: “All residents here in Bath and North East Somerset would benefit greatly from this type of collaboration.”
Council leader Kevin Guy said he would be “more than happy” to meet with Mr Robinson, and his successor as SU president, to discuss the idea.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
