Dear Professor Sally Mapstone (Principal and Vice-Chancellor) and Mr Ben Stuart (Director, Residential and Business Services),

For a long time, the affordability of accommodation in St Andrews has been a major point of concern for students. We feel that with the proposed new development at Albany Park that the University and Residential and Business Services are engaged in, it is now time to act to help tackle the crisis of affordability that many students face and ensure student voices are heard.

The cost of halls in St Andrews is on average considerably higher than other institutions in the rest of the UK. This has left the door open for private landlords to charge extortionate rates for substandard properties because a lot of students feel they have no other option. Many students are forced to work 20+ hours a week alongside their studies just to afford rent and bills or have felt the need to move out of St Andrews altogether because of financial pressure. There are families who have lived in St Andrews for generations but now struggle to afford living in the town and staff from the University are commuting for miles to avoid extortionate house prices. This is an issue that affects our entire community. The University in its strategic plan states that it aims to focus on the “provision of new student accommodation to lessen the demand on private housing in St Andrews” and now the University has the chance to help alleviate the pressure by providing a genuine alternative to students living in HMOs. Replacing genuinely affordable housing with unaffordable ensuite rooms does not do that.

Since June 2018, the University has twice submitted plans for a development at Albany Park prior to any student consultation. Both sets of plans proposed that a majority of the rooms would be expensive ensuite rooms rather than the affordable accommodation that students want and need. The University states in its strategic plan that it will “involve our students at the heart of University governance and decision-making”. This has not happened in this case.

Over the years, St Andrews has come a long way in widening access and starting to shed the image that we are an elitist institution. We know that the University shares our ambition that St Andrews should be open to everyone from any background but we fear the message that it will send if the University chooses to build expensive ensuite accommodation in place of what was previously the most affordable accommodation in our town.

We want to see a real commitment from the University and Residential and Business Services to tackling this problem, ideally through the development of 100% truly affordable accommodation at Albany Park. We also want a pledge that in future, students will be consulted on and involved in future accommodation developments in St Andrews.

We hope that this will not only relieve pressure on housing in St Andrews, improving the situation for both students and permanent residents, but also help make our university more accessible to people from all backgrounds. We look forward to working with you to help move our University in the right direction.

Yours,
St Andrews Campaign for Affordable Student Housing