UWE under fire over Cheltenham & Gloucester accommodation
A TV presenter has posted on X saying it's "deeply shocking" asking students to live so far away
Last updated 13th Sep 2023
The University of the West of England (UWE) is defending itself after it emerged new students are being given accommodation as far away as Cheltenham and Gloucester.
It comes after Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie Allsopp took to X (formerly Twitter) this week, saying a close family friend who is just starting at the University has been given accommodation in Cheltenham, calling it "deeply shocking".
"(Train) station 25 mins walk from campus, train journey 41 mins and £12.50 return," she wrote.
"That's not student life, (that) is effing commuting, he might as well skip uni a(nd) start work right away."
It is not the first time West Country universities have come under fire for the locations of their accommodation.
The University of Bristol and UWE have both previously faced criticism for housing students in Newport in Wales.
Others have had to live in Bath and commute between the cities because of a lack of accommodation, including Dominic Verlaque who completed a masters at the University of Bristol last year.
He says he was offered the accommodation so close to the start of term that he had no choice but to accept it.
"I was looking for housing in Bristol, if there was any alternatives because there wasn't any student accommodation left in Bristol, but because it was so late into term starting there wasn't anything in Bristol at all so the only option was to accept the accommodation in Bath," he told Greatest Hits Radio.
Dominic said the University provided a £500 bursary per term to cover travel costs, but that this was not enough to cover his needs.
"If you were in Bristol later at night, the trains stopped running at about 11ish and the bus was quite irregular, it would come at maybe 1am and 3am or something, so if you were getting a taxi back it was so expensive," he said.
"The £500 didn't really cover it as much, because also the added thing is when you're in Bristol you can't just go home, make food and things like that.
"There's the added expense of having to buy food and things just to get through the day."
What's more, Dominic's contract at the university accommodation in Bath, he says, did not actually last the full length of his course.
"So we had to move out for the last few months and find accommodation again in Bristol and they didn't provide any support to help us take all our stuff from Bath to Bristol.
"We had to stack it all up in an Uber and try and move, which was quite expensive and tedious as well."
Responding to Kirstie Allsopp's comments, a spokesperson for UWE said Bristol has become "increasingly popular" for students.
"This, combined with the increasing demand for university places and living on-campus and the rise in the cost of living, has placed additional pressure on our accommodation," they said.
"We are working hard to build even more on-campus accommodation over the next few years to ensure we can meet these demands."
UWE says it has nearly finished building a 900-bed student accommodation development on its Frenchay campus, which they had hoped would be ready for the start of this academic year.
"However, this is a large-scale construction project and during the project market conditions have shifted considerably and have been very challenging, both in terms of supply chain and labour, which has led to an unavoidable and regrettable delay in completion," the spokesperson continued.
"We are doing everything we can to ensure that we have the beds available as soon as possible, while ensuring they are fully finished and ready for our students.
"We hope to move students into the new accommodation between Oct 2023 – Jan 2024, and students currently allocated to accommodation in Cheltenham and Gloucester will be offered rooms there as soon as they are ready."
The University says students in Cheltenham and Gloucester are being offered a student travel discount card and special welcome events are being organised so that students living off campus still feel a part of the university.
"The off-campus accommodation is situated in vibrant student areas, and we have received positive feedback from students living there.”
Responding to Dominic's comments, a spokesperson from the University of Bristol said they are not offering accommodation in Bath this academic year.
However, the university's website continues to advertise accommodation in Newport, which is twice as far away.
A University of Bristol spokesperson said: "For most students, accommodation will be one of their biggest expenses which is why we provide a wide variety of options to suit specific requirements and budgets.
"We have added 137 rooms at Newport to our accommodation portfolio this year as it offers large, modern rooms with their own bathroom for around £2,000 less than the equivalent in central Bristol.
“We know this won’t be for everyone but for some students this will provide them with a viable and more affordable option.
"More than 400 students registered an interest in living at Newport Student Village and we have approximately 90 reserved bookings.
"Newport is only being offered as an option to students who have expressed a specific interest in living there."
The university adds students in Newport have the same access to 24/7 support as if they were in Bristol, with the spokesperson adding they expect it to be a "vibrant community" with shared social and study spaces and a wide range of activities.
A shuttle bus is also offered to take students to and from Bristol for free.