St Mary’s University’s commitment to its neighbours
St Mary’s University has been a neighbour and part of the Strawberry Hill area for over 90 years and it values its relationship with the local community.
The University always encourages its students to respect their neighbours within the community and a number of measures are in place, which are designed to minimise any disturbance to our neighbours. All of these are reviewed on an on-going basis.
- Welcome meetings for all of our new students, many of whom are living away from home for the first time. These sessions make it very clear that we are situated in a residential area and we urge them to act and behave in a considerate and respectful manner. These actions include but are not restricted exclusively to, litter, parking, noise, running on the pavements to and from Bushy Park.
- Our local Police Liaison officer, Scot Brody also reinforces these points to our students through meetings with the Students Union and the Students.
- All of our halls of residence have resident mentors on site who remind our students about the conduct we expect from them as many of the halls are close to private and rental properties.
- Further notices are issued via social media, especially ahead of any planned social events on and outside of the campus, posters around campus and on student portal and the student union web site.
- For late night events, the Students’ Union employ a sound engineer to control and regulate the volume of music. The decibel level is recorded at each event, which is available for inspection by an Environmental Health Noise Abatement Officer.
- The Students’ Union President has a place on the St Mary’s University Senior Management Team at which there is regular two way dialogue on student activities.
- We have an established Student Services team in place led by Sue Whitham – who regularly meet with our students as part of well being programme.
- Part of the Student Services team includes a ‘Student Life Co-ordinator’, who acts a direct contact for the student mentors in the Halls of Residence. The Student Life Co-ordinator has regular meetings with the mentors and the students themselves in the Hall of Residence to remind them to respect our neighbours.
- Regular meetings are held with the Strawberry Hill Resident’s Association and with the local Police so that we can regularly be updated on issues and wherever possible act on them.
- A community newsletter is issued to local residents 2-3 times a year containing University news and this is available on our web site along with all student and campus event related activity.
- Regular partnership meetings are held between the local Police (Safer Neighbourhood Team), the Students’ Union.
- Increased CCTV has been installed around the campus, which cover all of the access routes into and out of the campus and the campus security team, which is enhanced for certain planned social events patrol the grounds and the streets immediately in the vicinity of the site 24/7. Our security team also meet our students when they return on coaches from events off site.
- Advance notice is given to residents of any events planned via Student Union and SMU web sites.
- Buses are provided for students wishing to visit the night club, so as to stop or reduce students walking in the streets. We have adapted the drop off points in response to local residents feedback.
- Additional security patrols are undertaken, including mobile patrols in vehicles for rapid response. These include Strawberry Hill station, Strawberry Hill Rd, Waldegrave Park, Waldegrave Rd, Clive Rd, all resident halls , Track and pitches, and the Shannon Centre.
- Up to 15 Security staff and 10 Student Union Volunteers are deployed on duty for events nights, plus there are Club staff on the buses provided and queue management on Bus and Club nights for both legs of the journey. Boarding on to the buses takes place on campus and the queuing for the buses takes place within the Students’ Union Hall to mitigate noise and disruption.
- Visibly drunk students are not permitted to board the buses, have access to the club or be served at the SU Bar.
- Additional bins provided for campus areas and gates, to try and reduce litter outside campus.
- Grounds staff perform additional litter picking on Campus perimeter.
- We are engaging with Uber to try to bring the pick-up point inside the university, so as to reduce the disturbance in the street at night.
- Security engage with local Neighbourhood watch to try and co-ordinate actions to reduce noise and disturbance.
- Security Control room is manned 24 hours, and will take calls via the emergency hot line.
- All of the runners from St Mary’s are reminded to run on the pavement areas outside of the University in single file and to provide sufficient room for pedestrians
- Litter is collected on campus by our own housekeeping and members of our Students’ Union and staff regularly litter pick directly after major social events on and off campus.
Disciplinary Actions
- The vast majority of our students adhere to the guidelines we give them and behave in a respectful manner. Those that don’t and on very rare occasions engage in anti-social behaviour and or criminal damage if identified are subject to established disciplinary procedures.
- Identifying students can be a challenge as not all young people in the local area study at the University but we make every effort to do so if we receive a complaint.
- The university has a zero tolerance on drug abuse - Students caught with drugs are immediately suspended from campus, and referred for disciplinary action as a gross misconduct offence.
- Students found to be excessively drunk are reported to Student Services for follow up, which may involve disciplinary action.
- Students who refuse to obey instructions to quieten down, and / or are abusive, are reported for disciplinary action.
Concluding Comments
While we will always endeavour to respond to your complaint with a comprehensive reply as possible there are some issues that should be referred directly to the local Council and these include; parking restrictions, CPZ applications, CCTV cameras positioned outside of the campus and speed limits on the Waldegrave Road.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about our students please email comment@stmarys.ac.uk and a response will be sent to you as quickly as possible.
There is a number for any complaints to be registered and this is manned by our security team who will respond/attend as necessary and complete an incident form.
The number to call is 020 8240 4335.
An emergency number is also available by calling 0208 240 4060 if you have any concerns relating to your/someone’s else’s personal safety or damage to property.