Petition contesting the restrictions placed upon the Brendon Court social space

Aims of this campaign:

1. Reopen the social space under at least the previous
2. Ensure the social space is always open at the specified
3. Facilitate cleaning. It is currently unclear how to get cleaning equipment. This only requires a notice on the wall on/near the entrance.

As most of you know, the social space has been under added restrictions. All the residents are bearing the punishment for the actions of what is likely very few people. This is not only of questionable legality but sets a dangerous precedent for the future.

The following extract is from the email sent out to the residents by Naomi Burton on 22nd of March 2016:

“Due to several incidents involving the damage and mess left in the Brendon Social Space over the past few weeks the Accommodation Operations Team have made the decision to limit the access to the social space overnight. The social space will now be locked at 8:00pm each evening and will be re-opened at 9:00am each morning, this will commence from today and will carry on until further notice. There will be no exceptions for bookings.”

This notice was given under immediate action with NO PRIOR NOTICE, nor a cautionary punishment (e.g. this rule in place for 1 week). Most importantly, there was no serious attempt at opening meaningful dialogue with the occupants. Furthermore, to my knowledge all prior written requests for residents to clean the space have been met.

I am not disputing the problems which have led to action being taken, however the reaction from the Accommodation Operations Team has been too severe.

The purpose of the social space is to centralise social activities to minimise the impact on other occupants. I believe this rule directly violates this aim. Parties and social gatherings have just migrated to peoples’ rooms instead. This is firstly unregulated by the time constraints of the social space but also will bring noise complaints from the people around said rooms.

We pay £6210 p.a. for facilities which include a social space and are currently being denied full use of this area. This is of questionable legality, as the contract grants us access to the social space, at reasonable times. We currently have minimal places to socialise. Just this one social space and 4 kitchens for the whole building. Meanwhile each Quads flat has its own communal lounge which is not only larger than ours but with more seating options and similar audio-visual facilities. And this is for a fraction of the number of people.

Furthermore, there have been times when we’ve tried to access this space, within the stated open hours, to get post and even to clean up, and the area has been locked. This has especially been an issue on weekends meaning I had to wait until Monday to collect my post. After a party on a Saturday night, we went down late Sunday morning to clean up and the social space was locked. We were swiftly threatened with a charge of £50. How are we supposed to clean up our mess if we can’t even access the room?

This problem is accentuated by the lack of cleaning equipment provided to us. The times we have tried to clean up, we talked directly with Agnieszka Kepska who provided us with the necessary equipment. However she only works weekdays, 9-5, so it leaves us at a loss of what to do on weekends.

Apart from inclusions under “communal cleanliness” and “excessive noise” under the “Residential Rules” in the accommodation contract, there are no clear instructions on how we are expected to behave. E.g. what given window after an event do we have to tidy the area?

I hope these points convey our side of the matter and will lead to a meaningful solution which pleases both parties.

The residents of Brendon Court