By Carla Booth
Please leave your homes tidy and keep the noise down!
That’s the message from Leeds City Council, which is urging more than 50,000 students leaving their homes to be mindful of their neighbours and keep noise to a minimum in communities including Burley and Kirkstall.
As reported last year, piles of rubbish left in the street by students moving house at the end of term have left residents feeling like they are “living in a slum”.
Local resident Kate Wells said: “I noticed a lot of rubbish, furniture, bedding and food waste piled up outside almost every student house. It happens every single year, rubbish starts piling up, wheelie bins get full and rubbish is left on the street.”
This year council officers will be working closely alongside the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University to ensure that the move of students leaving their homes this summer will be as smooth as possible.
The ‘moving-out’ period for students can often be a tense time for residents due to the noise it can cause and the amount of waste that is often left behind when the students move.
Executive member for resources Councillor Debra Coupar said: “Universities and students in Leeds make a massive contribution to our culture and economy but we do recognise that in areas with a higher population of students, some anti-social behaviour issues can arise.”
Leeds City Council is asking students who have come to the end of their tenancies to be mindful of local residents and keep the noise low.
The council has also provided students with a guide on five things they can do to make moving out as easy as possible for both them and local residents.
This comes after Leeds Beckett University and the University of Leeds teamed up in early June to tackle the amount of waste left by students moving out of their homes.
They started the Good to Give service, which has delivered blue bags to 7,000 households across Burley, Hyde Park and Headingley that students are being encouraged to fill with donations of items they no longer want.
Have your say: Are these initiatives having a positive impact on some of the issues caused by some students in the area? Have your say in the comments section below.