Officer Blogs

Union Development & Democracy Officer Blog

Hey! I’m Jade and I’m your Development and Democracy Officer for this year. It’s my job to help develop Keele SU to make sure it’s responding to the needs of students. I also make sure students feel represented, while acting as a voice for Keele students on issues and campaigns they care about in the University, local community and nationally.

At Keele I have studied a BA in Politics with Sociology and a PG Dip. As a student, I held a part-time officer role and attended many clubs and society events. Outside of University, I love game nights with my friends, going shopping, listening to JLS and laughing at my own jokes.

Talk to me about:

Making Keele SU a more welcoming place for everyone
The facilities and services that students need such as transport, parking, laundry and accommodation
Cost-of-Living
Empowering the student voice through part-time roles, elections and Networks

Email me at su.uddofficer@keele.ac.uk or contact me on social media below:

What is going on with parking?

Posted on Thu 28 Sep 2017 at 14:52

It's no secret that the way parking is going at the moment is causing problems. At the SU we've seen a lot of students unable to find somewhere to park since things changed this year and similarly had reports of banks of spaces being empty quite late in the day. Hopefully this blog will clear up where you can and can't park with permits and give you a few tips.

So where can you park?

The most important change for this new parking is that other than a few areas marks on the map a permit lets you park in ANY of the blue areas. It doesn't matter what the signs there still say, some of them still need updating, if you have a permit you can probably park there.
This means that even those parking spaces right by the lecture buildings are open for student parking. However later in the day the centre of campus is going to get full, so it's important that you are aware of the other spaces out there, for example in Holly Cross and the Oaks. Map

Can I park in Keele village?

It is possible to park in Keele village but a lot of students make mistakes and end up parking there illegally and cause massive problems for residents. This can result in quite substanital fines.

The village has a number of residents who use pushchairs, wheelchairs and mobility scooters. Parking on the footway is inconsiderate and an offense where it obstructs the passage of such users.

There are areas outside the campus where the road has double white lines in the centre. Parking adjacent to double white lines is a traffic offence and forces other road users over the double white lines which is extremely dangerous.

Please park considerately and support the wider community of Keele. Wherever possible avoid parking outside the campus and use the facilities provided by the University.

UPDATE: A number of people have apparently been parking illegally in the village next to double white lines, this has led to several 'near misses' and police are now regularly checking the area too.

Please be aware that if you park illegally it puts people in danger and could leave you with some substantial fines.

Can I still apply for a permit?

You absolutely can still apply for a permit. You can apply here.

I think I should get a permit but I'm not on the list of possible reasons!

If you think you should be eligible for a permit but don't meet the criteria on the form then send me and email on su.uddoffier@keele.ac.uk . I can't ensure I can get you on the list but I will do my best to help you if your circumstances mean you should be considered for a permit.

What is the SU going to do about this?

After the chaos of the new parking system and freshers have settled I'll be gathering student feedback on how parking applications and the new parking system is going. This will be fed back to the staff who run the parking programme so they can make improvements next year.

Comments

Frankie Gibson: 5:16pm on 28 Sep 17 The current situation is intolerable. We're 4 days into the semester, and all 3 of the days I've been on campus so far I've struggled to find a space. Even arriving at 8.30 was no help yesterday. They've reduced the number of spaces drastically, but made no effort to put in alternative arrangements, if anything, they seem more restrictive this year, with areas on the Science Park which were available as unofficial overspill last year being closed off to us. The Parking Enforcement people seem even more ticket happy, too. On the third day of the new semester, we had a guest lecturer who was late because he couldn't find a parking space - what kind of message does that send about the University? I understand that the University is trying to improve the infrastructure longterm, but their management of change has been very poor. Keele is a campus university, and with that comes the need for many of the students to drive in. They can't expect to grow the number of students in the way that they have, and not put in the facilities to support them - this point impacts more than just the parking, the library and other things are affected too. Perhaps the most egregious thing they've done though, is take away more than half of the spaces at the medical centre (the doctor's / dentist's, not the Med School), which is used by members of the wider community. Without the Darwin carpark, and with no access to the car park at Keele Hall, where are users of this vital service meant to park? They can't park on the surrounding roads or they'll be ticketed - I've seen it. Very poor show.
Bert Billard: 4:31pm on 28 Sep 17 Getting rid of the designated parking zones sounds great at first, but when you take into consideration all of the available car parking spaces, unless you get there early (before 9am), it can take a LOT longer to find a space. Last year, I only had 1 car park I could park in, so I would go there, and if it was full, I'll go to the P&D. This year, I try to park on the closest car park to my lectures, find it full, then have to go to the next closest car park. Which if it's full too, I have to go to the next one. Rinse, repeat until I hopefully find a spot at the arse end of campus, where no one wants to park. This takes WAY MORE TIME than it did last year. Bring back zones, but allow for more flexibility (either by allowing some overlap of zones - being allowed to park in two zones rather than one, or by having more car parking facilities.)

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