Students: the Return

Written by Jenny Randerson AM and published in Cardiff Post on Thu 13th Sep 2007

Early September is always a bit like the calm before the storm. The "storm" is the return of the university students who make up about a quarter of the electorate in my constituency.

The summer months in Cardiff Central are usually fairly tranquil and one is even pretty confident of being able to find a parking space. There are occasional complaints about landlords dumping old furniture in the front gardens of their empty properties, but the Liberal Democrat Council has made great progress in tackling the issue of end-of-term rubbish, so even that has been much less of a problem this year.

Things start to hot up once children are back at school because their parents are back at work too and the parking squeeze begins. Then comes the student invasion - first years excited at being away from home for the first time and older students refreshed from their summer break. Inevitably, there are tensions with the local community of long-term residents. Late night noise, parking and rubbish collection are the key issues. The Council does a great job publicising the correct day to put bin bags out but, inevitably, there are still problems. And the Student Union does a great job encouraging students to be good neighbours.

Despite the inevitable complaints I always get at this time of year, I am always impressed by the number of long-term residents who tell me how nice the particular batch of students living near them have proved to be.

I strongly believe that, as a City, we under-value the importance of our Universities. There are 3 of them: Cardiff University, UWIC and now Glamorgan University which has formed a strategic alliance with the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Together, they make a massive contribution to our economy; creating thousands of jobs. Students themselves spend millions of pounds in the City, creating more jobs. But probably their greatest contribution is to our City's reputation throughout the UK and abroad, because many students nowadays are foreign students. Research shows that students overwhelming enjoy living in Cardiff - they go home and tell other people what a great City it is and then those people, in turn, want to visit.