CLO search begins, 'waste rule' returns, landlord data disappears ...

Here’s a quick catch-up on some recent developments as we enter the 2024-25 academic year:

• UoB Is Recruiting a New Community-Liaison Officer

  CLO Steve Smith left in September to take up a security-related role at the University of the West of England. UoB is now recruiting his replacement. In the meantime, the community-liaison office is staffed by a coordinator and an assistant (who, though temporary, has worked in the office before).

• ‘Waste Rule’ Is Reinstated in Disciplinary Regulations

  The university’s Student Agreement and Student Disciplinary Regulations documents for 2024-25 (they are updated annually) show that UoB has made good on its promise to reinstate the “waste rule” that it removed last year, to universal criticism from local residents’ associations. Roughly three-quarters of all complaints about student behaviour in the community relate to noise, but issues with household waste account for most of the rest. UoB’s community rules had long included non-compliance with local council waste and recycling collection procedures as grounds for disciplinary action. But in summer 2023, the rule was removed without warning (nor any subsequent explanation that made any sense). After a predictable outcry, UoB said in November last year the rule would be reinstated when contract documents were revised for this academic year. The new disciplinary regulations, published in August, now include an offence defined as “Inconsiderate disposal of waste that causes a disturbance to members of the local community”.

• Landlord and Agent Data Have Disappeared From Pinpoint

  Following up on problems at student properties has been made harder for both residents and the university because key data has been removed from the Pinpoint map published by Bristol City Council. The data layers showing the location of HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation) used to include names and addresses for landlords and agents. When the disappearance of this information was queried at meetings of the Bristol Student Community Partnership, council officials explained that there’s a small risk use of the HMO data alongside other data available in Pinpoint might potentially identify an individual, in contravention of the Data Protection Act. So as a precaution the landlord and agent data was withdrawn. This looks like a very flimsy reason to remove information that was very helpful to the public. HMOs are required by law to be listed on a public register, and the landlord and agent information for up to three properties (per request) can still be obtained by emailing the council—but that is a slower and more cumbersome process than looking it up on a map. Efforts are being made through the BSCP to get the council to reconsider.