Loughborough University development/growth

Loughborough with a population of 60,000 and a vibrant University with over 12,000 students has potential for a town v gown confrontation. It has to be said that there have been tensions over the last 10 years I have been involved in the development of Loughborough.

Throughout my time I have tried to bring together the interested parties to work together rather than against each other. Least progress has been made when residents, students and authorities have been at loggerheads and taking up positions.

I meet with the Vice Chancellor, the Student Union President, the Leader of Charnwood Borough Council and the Police Chief on a regular basis. This is is always an issue I raise in these meetings and what progress (or otherwise) they are making. Indeed in my first meeting with the new Vice Chancellor it was the first issue I raised with her as somehting she needed to be aware of.

The people who can make a difference locally are the University, the local authority, the police, students, landlords and the local community. I have no direct powers but hopefully can use my influence to try to maintain the issue on the agenda of the bodies I meet on a regular basis.

I have also tried to avoid public posturing on the issue. I fully recognise the contribution made by the University to the life of the town and the surrounding area. I also recognise that any large institution or company has its corporate and social responsibilities to its local community. In the case of a large company its output could be industrial waste for example. In the case of the University part of its impact on its local community is the student population.

There are a few issues related to this - with anti social behaviour and the number of houses in Student HMOs being the principle two. I have tried to deal with both of these over the years and as you can see below have tried to use my influence in Parliament too in order to change legislation as well as asking Oral and Written parliamentary questions.