Financial contributions from student landlords have helped the “Green Move Out” operation in Durham City this year.

The City of Durham Parish Council took the unprecedented step of writing to each student landlord in Durham to request a financial contribution towards its precept in an effort to clean up the City – a move which many local residents described as “long overdue”.

Councillors voted to make this request at the Full Council meeting in March this year. Councillors voiced concerns that waste and noise associated with student properties were a regular source of complaint from neighbouring residents and the Parish Council expressed the desire to work proactively with the private-rental sector to tackle these issues at their source.

The appeal itself generated over £3,500 from local landlords and the University – itself a student accommodation provider – and this helped to provide additional collections on Sundays in and around the Move Out operation as well as extra neighbourhood wardens.

Over 4,340 properties in Durham City alone are now registered as student properties and therefore exempt from paying any Council tax at all – including tax payable to the Parish Council, Police, Fire Service and more. In the financial year 2019/20, a total of £7,429,000 was lost in Council tax revenue due to Class M and Class N (student) exemptions. The figure for 2020/21 increased significantly by £1,368,335 to £8,797,335. This has a huge implication for the delivery of services.

Chair of the Parish Council’s Environment Committee Coun. Carole Lattin (pictured) said: “We are delighted to work so proactively with the private-rental sector in Durham and to have received this contribution to our appeal from a number of landlords. This is very much partner-driven as we all recognise the benefits of maintaining our City as a safe, clean and green area for all to enjoy.”

She added: “I think the appeal raised a few eyebrows as no other University City Council has done this before but the Parish Council was elected to blaze a trail and that is what we are doing. These are small steps and the majority of donations came from individual landlords, Loc8me and the University. Sadly, a number of the bigger players in the market did not contribute to our appeal this year but this is something we hope to build on as the benefits of extra waste collection and neighbourhood wardens in the City during the Move Out operation were clear to us.”

Recent meetings of the Parish Council’s Environment Committee and Business Committee have agreed to continue this appeal into the future.

(Local walking enthusiasts braved the rain in March and had a fabulous day of activity and discovery)

A new walking trail is being promoted featuring the history, architecture and landscape of Durham City. The new leaflet is a result of a partnership between City of Durham Trust and the City of Durham Parish Council to mark the Trust’s 80th anniversary.

The trail around the World Heritage Site is about 8km long and takes less than three hours at a gentle walking pace. There is an extension along the River Wear to the Old Durham Gardens taking a further half an hour. Given average fitness and enthusiasm for a good walk, it makes the perfect solo walk with the dog, a great family ramble, and even a super outing for a rambling club. Also featured is shorter route for wheelchairs around the Peninsular where there are fewer steep slopes and the surfaces are more suitable for wheelchair users and others with limited mobility.

John Lowe, the Chair of the City of Durham Trust said: “The Trust is certain that this fine trail around the Cathedral, Castle and riverbanks of the World Heritage site will become a popular route round the City’s many heritage sites and buildings. It is just one of several ways we are celebrating 80 years of commitment to the care for the City’s heritage.”

The Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council’s Environment Committee Coun. Carole Lattin said: “We are delighted to be publishing the leaflet with the Trust which will help both local people and visitors to enjoy more fully what Durham has to offer. It is also just what the City economy needs to encourage visitors to stay longer and boost tourism expenditure. We are indebted to David Miller, aided by other Trust members, for devising the trail and designing this exceptional leaflet.”

The leaflet will be distributed to local groups, businesses, and organisations and will be available to the public at the Town Hall in the Market Place as well as other public buildings across the City.

The City of Durham Parish Council is here to represent all residents of our community – whether student residents or year-round permanent residents – we are here to support all of our neighbours.

The Parish Council has been shocked to see the scenes of students queuing outside estate agents in the City in the desperate hopes of securing accommodation for next academic year. The scenes have hit national headlines and are a cause of great concern to us all.

The City of Durham Parish Council will be writing to Durham University, Durham Students Union, Durham County Council and the local Member of Parliament to seek an urgent meeting to try and resolve these issues.

No individual or organisation should rush to the conclusion that this housing crisis is caused as a result of a lack of private-rented HMOs in the City. Indeed, the statistics below show otherwise and in fact we have seen outlying areas of the City also experience an increase in private student accommodation. A statement last month from the University that there had actually been a reduction in private-rented accommodation in the City has no basis in fact and has yet to be retracted.

Be in no doubt that this issue is caused primarily as a result of landlords releasing their properties into the market almost immediately and the University’s obsession with an unsustainable expansion policy, which is driving permanent long-term residents out of the City. This expansion policy is in no way accommodation-led and the University’s aims of having 50% of students ‘living-in’ University accommodation is nowhere near to being achieved.

The Parish Council is calling on the University to move forward urgently with the six PBSAs it promised the residents of Durham at the Examination in Public into the County Durham Plan in 2020 and to make these affordable. It is deeply concerning to see the proposed accommodation places in these PBSAs slowly falling by the wayside; with the numbers at James Barber House already being reduced and a planning application for an independently funded PBSA at Mount Oswald to house 850 students, which was submitted two years ago, has not progressed since June 2021.

The crippling and exploitative costs of College accommodation is also pushing students into the Durham housing stock and it is time for the University to take action on this and put people ahead of profit.

The stress and mental strain this must all be causing our student residents is appalling.

Stats on private-rented student lets in DH1 as of April 2022:

Preparations for Durham’s annual Remembrance Parade are well underway, with hundreds of serving members of the Armed Forces expected to arrive from all parts of the UK for this great event.

The parade is once again organised by the City of Durham Parish Council and will be led by the Band and Bugles of Durham Army Cadet Force which will lead a strong detachment from our county Regiment the Rifles proud successors to the Light Infantry and the Durham Light Infantry.

This year’s parade will march past the memorial to the Victoria Cross holders of the Durham Light Infantry to pay respects those great heroes of Durham.

The heavy drill elements of the parade which will feature some 200 plus troops will be led by two Cavalry regiments, the Light Dragoons and Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeth’s Own).

Also included in the heavy drill elements of the Army will be the Royal Army Medical Corps, Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers and the Royal Military Police.

The civilian services which will include nurses, prison officers, paramedics, police officer and fire service Standard Bearers from throughout the UK, will be led by the Durham Constabulary Brass Band and Durham University Brass Band.

The parade will march through the Market Place at approximately 11:20am on Sunday 13th November and the Salute will be taken by Mrs Sue Snowdon His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for County Durham.

In addition to the Remembrance Sunday activities, Durham City will gather in the Market Place on 11th November – Armistice Day – at 11:00am, where wreaths will be placed at the Durham Light Infantry Memorial statue.

Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council’s Business Committee, Coun. Elizabeth Scott said: “Durham has an incredible history of armed forces service and this Remembrance Day, the Parish Council is exceptionally keen to play its part in ensuring that we do everything we can to commemorate the sacrifices made by that brave generation. We are delighted to once again take on the civic duty of hosting this important event this year and I hope that all of County Durham can come together and pay our respects at this event.”

The people of Durham are invited to witness the Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday parade and cheer on His Majesty’s forces past, present and future.