A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
York City Council's attempt to restrict student housing has come in for criticism from students and landlords.
York Residential Landlords Association has condemned the City of York Council for its “discriminatory” policy towards student housing.
Since last year, the City of York Council has been consulting residents about an “Article 4 Declaration”. A recently published report by the council recommended going ahead with the declaration, which would implement city-wide regulations on the conversion of houses into student houses. Any landlord wishing to turn their house into a “House of Multiple Occupation”, which includes almost all student houses, would require permission from the City Council.
The council are expected to use these powers to stop any new student houses being converted around the University of York and York St. John University. This in turn is likely to push up rents near the university as the student population grows at a faster rate than the housing stock.
Niall McTurk, Chair of the York Residents Landlords Association, in an email sent to all those who signed a petition against the changes last year, said that he believed there was “no real evidence to justify the proposed actions”. He argued that the proposition “is discriminatory, [and] has ignored an opposition campaign that far outweighs the one in favour”.
The council’s claims about a high concentration of students include that they increase “levels of crime and fear of crime”, decrease “demand for some local services, particularly local schools” and increase “parking pressures arising from shared households”.
The council do however also accept that the majority of crime is committed against students, that decreased demand for local services places less strain on the public purse and that there is no statistical evidence beyond hearsay to suggest that students create any parking problems.
Tim Ellis, President of YUSU, has described the proposals as “extremely damaging for our off-campus students who are likely to be forced further away from the university”, whilst reiterating the belief that “this is a discriminatory piece of legislation that is detrimental to students and York as a whole”.
Christopher Twells, Chair of the University of York Liberal Democrats, however said that he did not believe the proposals are "discriminating against students" and argued that students caused several problems for neighbourhoods, such as "noise and parking". He believes "residents deserve their say" on the number of students in their area.
York Tories' offered a rather different stance in their reply to the Yorker, saying that "York Tories believe that this move is bad for both students and landlords, and seriously undermines the beneficial operation of the free market".
York Labour Club were contacted but have not replied to The Yorker.
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