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| Open letter to the new principal of St Andrews uni |
| Open letter to Dr Louise Richardson |
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This letter was submitted to Dr. Richardson on Wednesday 25 March 2009, the day of the principal's installation
Dear Dr Richardson,
The Lower Rents Now! Coalition would like to congratulate you on your inauguration as Principal. We have been impressed with the way in which you have been willing to meet with us (and other campaign groups) and discuss our concerns – it’s a nice change! We’re sending you this letter, and have been handing out our leaflets, not in order to protest your installation, but to urge for a continued dialogue on the subject of affordable housing.
We have waged a long, hard and often bitter opposition to the University’s plans for the Fife Park redevelopment, believing that an increase, not a decrease in cheap accommodation is utterly vital. This is true both for existing students, many of whom can barely afford the cost of living as it is; and for prospective students, especially those from lower-income backgrounds who simply could not afford to attend this University otherwise. We believe that the petition calling for 1000 affordable beds - which was signed by over 1000 students last year and presented to the University - as well as the protest of a year ago and the hundreds of letters of objection to the planning application which we delivered to the Fife Council prove that we represent the interests and opinions of a very significant proportion of the student body.
This large-scale support is due to the fact that these redevelopment plans directly or indirectly affect the lives of every student: the university controls around 55% of the student housing market in the town, so when it puts up its prices, private landlords can (and do) follow suit. Indeed, Derek Watson, Quaestor and Factor of the University, argued that ‘providing more beds will lower accommodation costs for all students and widen access’. This was in response to SRC questioning as to whether 500 affordable beds would be adequate. Lowering University rents would therefore have a dramatically beneficial effect on the price of housing in general in St Andrews, which even students from ‘comfortable’ financial backgrounds often struggle to pay. With
so many students being turned down from places in halls for next year, the problem becomes even more acute and the first step to a solution is to exert tacit pressure on landlords to stop charging such extortionate prices.
