Complaints and enforcement:
- Increased University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University funding to Leeds City Council to provide a dedicated Leedswatch resource for the Inner North West area, seven days a week. This will be expanded to cover from 5pm-4am, with increased call handling capacity. This is expected to go live in January, following staff recruitment.
- Monthly updates in collaboration with the city council’s Leeds Antisocial Behaviour Team to provide more transparency about complaints and actions taken. These will be published on the higher education institutions webpages and communicated to the chairs of residents associations. From January.
- Continuing to work with our partners – Leeds Antisocial Behaviour Team and West Yorkshire Police – to monitor the effectiveness of partnership arrangements and ensure that we are working effectively and efficiently to provide a good service to residents experiencing ASB.
- Improved feedback to residents about the outcome of complaints (within any constraints of each higher education institution’s data protection responsibilities).
- Updating and expanding our web pages to give more information and clarity on what we do to address anti-social behaviour and increase student participation in projects which improve the quality of life for all residents. From January.
- Increased University of Leeds staffing resource to support the Neighbourhood Helpline and disciplinary process, to improve the service provided to residents. This is also expected to go live from January, following staff recruitment.
Student Education and Engagement:
- Providing a termly report to update on student citizenship activities. The first report will be circulated in February
- Increasing engagement with first year students about behaviour, their impact on the community, and the consequences of poor conduct as part of our Halls to Homes initiative. To be implemented by Easter, prior to students moving from university accommodation
- Review of student education communications and initiatives to ensure that they are effective at influencing behaviour change. This review has begun and is ongoing.
- Leeds Beckett University has appointed a full-time Community Relations and Communications Manager to coordinate the university’s community engagement work. The postholder’s work programme will include a full review of current information, processes and practice
- Increasing the numbers of University of Leeds students required to attend citizenship training and/or participate in community volunteering projects as part of our disciplinary process. Projects include University-led litter picking, graffiti removal and gardening and planting projects. From spring.
- The University of Leeds has introduced Community Ambassadors to educate our students about our expectations of behaviour, and to help them get to grips with independent living through provision of peer-to-peer guidance, engagement, information and advice. This initiative was delivered between October and November.
- Introduce a University of Leeds community fund to support projects which make a positive social or environmental impact on the communities where the majority of our students live. To be launched this spring.
Waste Management and Tenancy Changeover:
- Increase funding and resource for the End of Term Big Clear Out to collect even more unwanted items for the benefit of local people. For discussion with partners from January, for implementation in June.
- Extra support to tackle waste and environmental issues, and encourage better waste reduction, recycling behaviours and the correct use of the refuse collection service – especially when students move between accommodation. For discussion with partners from January, for implementation in June.
- University of Leeds to introduce share, sell and repair cafés to encourage students to fix what they already have and reduce the number of items that would be destined for bins at the end of term. The first repair café was held on 16 October as a pilot and plans are in place to develop this further.
Whilst we have already begun work on implementing these measures, it will take time to complete, and we appreciate your patience on this.
We will continue to monitor the level and nature of complaints both as the Leeds higher education institutions and through the wider partnership. The partnership will review the arrangements at termly meetings with chairs of residents’ associations to understand how effective the new measures are and whether further changes are required.
In the meantime, please continue to report any anti-social behaviour and noise issues to the LeedsWatch out of hours noise service via 0113 376 0337 (currently 6pm to 3.30am) and the Leeds Universities and Colleges Neighbourhood Helpline via neighbourhood.helpline@leeds.ac.uk.