Parking Prohibited

The University has removed all student parking permits this year, creating an outcry from student drivers, many of whom have already paid for their insurance.

Students driving to campus will now have to use pay-and-display or pay-on-foot facilities. Charges have increased, with a fee of £1.50 for less than four hours of parking or £3.00 for a day.

The University says its hands are tied by an agreement with local authorities stipulating that the University must work to reduce the number of car journeys to campus, eliminate free parking, and encourage use of alternative modes of transport. TheUniversity’s website also states that the conditions of the agreement and the proposal to remove free car parking have been in the public domain for three years.

The first time many students became aware of the changes was in a post on the University’s website on 10 August 2009. The Students’ Union claims this was the first time that the removal of student parking permits was made known to them as well.

A Facebook group was created to protest the changes gathered over 2,100 members, with many complaining that they have already insured their cars in the mistaken belief that they would be able to purchase permits to park on campus.

Anouska Nithyanandan, a third-year engineering student, was one of many students who did not bring their cars with them this term because of the parking changes.

“My main gripe is the fact that they told us so late, it was after a lot of people, including myself, had renewed insurance, which I would not have done if I had known how expensive parking was going to be. I think that’s the most annoying thing, which leaves me by the way,” she said.

Since the announcement, the University has undertaken negotiations with the Students’ Union on the issue. Peter Dunn, Press Officer for the University, said the University had been working closely with sabbatical officers “in terms of developing scratch cards and the latest discussions with local bus companies.”

The Union contends that by scrapping permits, the University is creating a situation where more students will be forced to use already-overcrowded bus services, and will have to spend more if they need to park on campus. Sabbatical officers with whom the Boar had discussions claimed that the University was not as receptive to their concerns as they would have liked.

It is a “ridiculous time” to be implementing such changes, Twiss said, when students are already burdened by frozen loan amounts and rising living costs.

Owain Griffiths, a third year Physics student, living in Leamington, described the changes as “underhand”.

“I’m insanely angry about it…I understand that the route into campus is incredibly congested in the morning. But the implementation [of the parking changes] is awful; it’s an outright attempt to exploit students.”

Griffiths renewed the rent of his house in North Leamington under the presumption that driving onto campus would cost him the same as last year. Griffiths has no choice but to pay the higher parking fees, because he thinks that taking the bus is not really an option as “every bus that goes past my house is full until 9:45.”

For students like Griffiths, who will still drive onto campus every day, the extra cost will be between £100 and £200 this year.

Following the consultations with the Union, the University decided to introduce a scratch-card system that allows students to purchase twelve days’ parking in a month for £30, a £6 savings over using the pay-and-display facilities. They have also agreed to allow students who can demonstrate that they need to bring their car onto campus to purchase parking permits. The SU, however, feels these measures do not go far enough. “It’s an improvement, but it’s not ideal,” says Twiss.

Other proposals included implementing an Oyster card-like scheme in which students would purchase credits for parking. However the University explained that currently the infrastructure and investment for such a system is not available. Dunn added that the University will be looking into developing such a scheme in the longer term.

Twiss countered, “If that infrastructure wasn’t ready, they shouldn’t have removed the student permits.”

The University has also proposed car sharing schemes which it says could be brought in as early as next week.

The Union’s emphasis has now shifted to ensure that local bus companies are equipped to deal with the increased demand on their services and has been in consultation with Travel Coventry and Stagecoach.

According to Daniel Prestidge of Travel Coventry, the company is planning to place inspectors at four points along the route to campus over the first weeks of term, with two extra buses ready for use in the case of overcrowding. He also encouraged students to contact Travel Coventry via their website if they are affected by overcrowded buses.

“Both companies seemed receptive to providing extra service at peak times,” said Hall, “but they want to carry out their own research.” Because the companies have no hard evidence of how much demand there will be, they are monitoring usage before making any decisions about adding extra services.

Hall spoke with representatives of Stagecoach Warwickshire, and said that, because of regulatory restrictions, the company is required to provide 56 days’ notice before altering services, meaning that no change to the U1 service is likely during the first term.

The Union is also planning to organise a petition, to give the University an idea of how many people are affected. A separate petition has already been circulated in an attempt to have postgraduates recognised as staff, which would mean they could apply for a staff parking permit rather than being forced to use the normal student facilities.

When asked whether there was any chance of implementing a student parking permit at a later date, Dunn said, “We have some student parking certificates now – for essential users, those with welfare/disability needs, some for student societies/sports societies. Scratch cards have also been implemented. We will be reviewing the impact of all the new arrangements over the next few months and feeding that in to the future strategy

While a number of the Sabbs have mentioned the possibility of student protests, they are not allowed to organise a protest without an official mandate from the student body. Isaac Acquah, SU Communications Officer, said that Union will be advising anyone wishing to organise an unofficial protest on the legal ramifications of any such action.

“We’ve talked to Security, and they are expecting protests,” said Acquah. He added that students should contact Security to ensure that any actions do not overstep legal boundaries.

Negotiations are ongoing. “It’s about making the best of a bad situation,” said Twiss.