TOWN AND GOWN STRUGGLES | | PROUD DAY | Students' extra curricular
activities anger locals |
Universities are expanding at a
rapid rate - latest figures show 40% of 18 to 30-year-olds are in
higher education. But is this influx of fun-seeking freshers putting
extreme pressure on local communities? Going to university - it's rarely just about getting a
degree. You've escaped your parents for the first time and you're determined
to make the most of every moment. Even if that sometimes means living
to excess. Inside Out Extra investigates whether town and gown are
sucessfully co-existing in the East Midlands. Bad behaviour| "We've become experts in vomit" | | Rosie Peddle, Loughborough resident |
For years bad student behaviour has been a national joke
typified in the classic TV comedy The Young Ones, but Rosie Peddle has
experienced this first hand.
Rosie's family lives in the Storer Road area of Loughborough where around
70% of the terraced houses are inhabited by students. One in four of the
Loughborough population is a student during term time. She says, "Takeaways through letter boxes, car front
tyre deliberately let down. Tin can football is also very popular at 3am.  | | Rosie Peddle:
Tired by late night student fun |
"There's something called 'car surfing', students
having fights with powerful water pistols. We've become experts in vomit
as well. This is life in Loughborough! "It is mentally and physically debilitating to be
constantly woken. It's almost like a sleep deprivation exercise." One student says not all students
behave this way, "You're going to get a minority who are going to
cause trouble, because they are young teenagers to early 20s and it's
always going to happen." Moving onRosie is determined not to move house to escape the students,
but many of her neighbours have given up the fight. One of those was Angela Jarram. For 65 years she lived
the quiet life in a thriving community. She never imagined living anywhere
else. "We always said we'd leave Roseby Street in a box!"
But as more and more students moved in, Angela's life became a misery. "We were forced out," says Angela, "nobody
was helping, nobody was listening to the people in the area, so we had
to move for peace of mind." StudentsInside Out Extra put the residents' feelings to students
in Loughborough.  | | Student: Surprised
by residents' misery |
Some were surprised and unaware of the residents' misery.
One student tells Inside Out, "Everyone that I've
met here thinks we all get along like a house on fire and we all have
fun." Others agree with the residents, that students aren't
the best neighbours. Another student says, "There's a family
two houses down from me - a big family. If I was them, I would move away
straight away, but it's cheap." Others highlight the positive impact which students have
on the town. Another student says, "I probably wouldn't
like to live in Loughborough long-term in a student area, but at the end
of the day, the students are supporting the town and supporting a lot
of local jobs." University actionThe problem for local people is that student accommodation
on the campus hasn't grown at the same rate as student admissions. This forces more students to live in local communities.
John Town, Registrar of Loughborough University, says
they are trying to tackle this issue, "The plans that we have for
additional accommodation are in thousands, probably about 2,500 places
on campus that we are currently planning. "No matter what happens, the centre of the town
is where it is, the university is where it is, there is always going to
be a lot of traffic.  | | John Town:
Planning more accommodation |
"Out main aim is to get them from A to B as quickly
and quietly as possible." But do these words mean anything to local residents who
have suffered from years of broken sleep? Do they really feel the universities
are taking their problems seriously? Rosie says, "It's not the students' fault that they
are young, occasionally daft and occasionally drunk. "I'm sure that they think they are going to do the best
job that they can for the university, but in the process they seem to
have forgotten that they have got neighbours." It's clear that living next to certain student neighbours
is no fun. With more students arriving in the East Midlands each year,
clearly the joke is wearing thin. Rosie's hoping that the plans John has outlined will
finally improve the situation. But for Angela it's all a bit too late
- she's now having to rebuild her life in another part of town. | 
Inside Out Extra: Wednesday March 24, 2004