Your President Clem Jones issues a call to action as it becomes clear the long term future of the back gate access is under threat. It's time to respect your neighbours!
Back in 2017, we were able to announce that after years of lobbying, the College had agreed to enable 24 hour access to the back gate. It was a great win which meant that those students who needed to head home after a late night library session or SU night out had a more direct route to their beds - which didn’t involve attempting to scale a 10 foot high fence and losing fingers (sadly that actually happened).
So, it’s with great regret that I need to make a final plea to everyone using the back gate regarding noise at night. Singing in the streets, shouting and chasing friends and just generally making a racket is making life very difficult for residents in the local area.
I don’t want to be a killjoy, and I enjoy singing like the rest of us, but imagine you’ve got an exam at 9am the next day and you’re trying to get some much needed sleep only to be woken at three in the morning by a terrible rendition of Hey Jude. That’s effectively the situation, except you replace that exam with work and throw into the mix the fact that a lot of young children are also being affected.
Future long term access under threat
Essentially, we’re at the point now where the College is going to have to make a decision on the future long term access to the gate. If things carry on as they are, this will result in one thing: the 24 hour access will be revoked.
It’s really that simple.
That’s why I need you to please respect the local community when travelling to and from campus late at night and tell your mates to keep it down if they’re getting a bit loud.
Alternative routes home
Remember there are a few other ways you can get home after a night out. If you live within a three mile radius of campus, you could jump on the Union Bus for just £1 per journey (or purchase an annual pass for a bargain £20) and get dropped to your door. You can also use our preferred taxi provider, Windsor Cars, who will do you great rates around the local area and even have an app to make booking rides easy.
And if things don’t change, the alternative is taking the long way home down the A30 because the back gate will be locked up. We really want to avoid this as it’s obviously far from ideal to have to walk down an A road in dark conditions, but it’s up to us all to ensure that’s not where we end up.
We’ve done everything we can from our end to prevent it getting to this point but now it’s over to you. Please, let’s show the local community we can be nice neighbours.
Clem Jones // President