Welcome to UNITY news -your opportunity to find outhow the universities andstudent unions of Cardiffengage with the community.My name is Emma Robson,Cardiff Council’s Student LiaisonOfficer, working in partnership withCardiff University, CardiffMetropolitan University and theUniversity of South Wales.

This Issue of Unity News reflectsthe fantastic work that has beenundertaken by student and non-student residents since the start ofthe 2014/2015 academic term.

Letting Board Controls to beintroduced in Cathays andPlasnewyddThe City of Cardiff Council hasreceived approval from the WelshPlanning Minister to introduce localcontrols over the erection ofresidential letting boards within theCathays and Plasnewydd wards.

The Minister agreed with theCouncil’s assessment that thenumber of letting boards displayedhas become so excessive that theyhave an adverse impact on thecharacter and appearance of thearea and the wellbeing of the residentcommunities.

The controls come into force as aresult of significant partnershipworking over the past few years byCardiff Council, local councillors,residents at local PACT meetings,Student Unions and the Universities.

The display of conventional

residential letting boards will beprohibited from 1st October 2015.Letting Agents across the city will besent full information about thesecontrols in June. More informationcan be found at www.cardiff.gov.uk/lettingboards.

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WHAT’S INSIDE?► Summer changes to the waste

and recycling service► Student Volunteers receive

awards from Cardiff University andSouth Wales Police

► Moving out tips for students

Keep in touch with Unity newsand Cardiff DIGS.

Keep up to date with all the newsacross the city related to studentsand the community at our Twitter,Facebook and Blog pages whichcan be found here:

cardiffdigs.blogspot.com/

twitter.com/@cardiffdigs

facebook.com/cardiff.digs

This newsletter is available in Welsh Mae’r cylchlythyr hwn ar gael yn Cymraeg

Putting the UNITY back in commUNITY

Get It Out For Cardiff returns for another successful year

The award winning reuse andrecycling campaign, Get it Out forCardiff (GIOFC) is back for its 11thyear. The scheme is set up to ensurethat moving out at the end of term isstress free and leaves ourcommunities clean and tidy. GIOFCincludes a re-use and charitycollection of unwanted items, sowhen you clear out, donate it!

21 Green Zones - are set up in hallsof residences and Student Unionsacross the city where you candonate clothing, food (unopenedtins, packets, jars etc), smallelectrical items, books, CDs, DVDsand kitchen items (plates, mugs,utensils, pans etc).

17 YMCA re-use banks - are inplace all year round to collectclothes, shoes, bags, textiles, smallelectrical items, books, CDs/DVDs.

Other items such as bicycles andlarge electrical items can be donatedto local Cardiff charities, please seewww.cardiffdigs.co.uk for moreinformation.

Household collections - Studentsliving in the private rented sector willbe reminded that their householdcollections will involve ‘Two in June’general waste collections. Kerbsidecollections in June for Cathays,Gabalfa and Plasnewydd will be asfollows:

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General waste(black bins/bags) 10/06/15 24/06/15

Recycling (green bags) 03/06/15 10/06/15 17/06/15 24/06/15

Food waste (food caddy) 03/06/15 10/06/15 17/06/15 24/06/15

Waste should be presented after 4pm on Tuesday’s; bins should be removed as soon aspossible following collection.

Waste should be presented after4pm on Tuesday’s; bins should beremoved as soon as possiblefollowing collection. If tenants aremoving out on a non-collectionday, they can arrange for theCouncil to remove their waste ona day suitable to them for a smallcost (this is in addition to thebulky waste service). Tenants canalso take their waste to a localHousehold Waste and Recyclingcentre for free.

Advice sheets for tenants andlandlords are available fromwww.cardiffdigs.co.uk

Moving out soon? There are many important steps totake to ensure a smooth departureof your Student Digs. Here aresome tips to help you….

► Bond/deposit. Do you knowyour Deposit ID and details ofwhere it is protected?

Contact your Deposit ProtectionScheme if any disagreementsarise with how much deposityou are getting back.

► Inventory. Check the inventoryyou filled in when you moved in.Arrange an inspection date with

your landlord/letting agent.Book a day with yourhousemates to clean everythingbefore you move.

Share duties betweenhousemates, leaving it all to oneperson is not what you want todo!

► Bills. Ensure you’ve paid alloutstanding gas, electricity,water bills etc, take final meterreadings and inform utilitycompanies of your moving outdate, otherwise they’ll keepcharging you.

► Too much stuff? When you

clear out, why not donateunwanted items to the Get It Outfor Cardiff campaign (GIOFC)?

Find your nearest YMCA bankor green zone atwww.cardiffdigs.co.uk

► Leaving… Make sure you putall bins out on the correctrubbish day. Donate reusableitems to GIOFC, and/or takegeneral waste to Lamby Way,the closest Household Waste

Download our FULL“Moving Out checklist” fromwww.cardiffdigs.co.uk

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Recycling and wasteservices will soon be

changing acrossthe city.

The City of Cardiff Councilcontinue to ask residents torecycle all they can to ‘get it outof the black and move into thegreen. These changes willbegin during the summer of2015- further information canbe found at www.cardiff.gov.uk/recyclemore. You will receivefurther detailed information inthe upcoming weeks andmonths.

Community News & EventsSummer garden

waste collectionshave now returned.

Between April - Octobergarden waste will becollected fortnightly. Youcan find your collectiondates online www.cardiff.gov.uk/recycling. You canalso download yourannual collectioncalendar from here.

Charges for bulkywaste collections

have changed. The minimum cost will reduce to£12.50, which includes up to twoitems. There will be an additionalcharge of £12.50 for eachadditional two items. Residentscan now book in a maximum of 6items.

e.g. 1-2 items = £12.50,3-4 items = £25.00,5-6 items = £37.50

There will no longer be freecollections for those residentseligible for certain benefits.Full information about how thewaste and recycling service willbe changed can be found onlineat www.cardiff.gov.uk/recyclemore.

Interested in helpingkeep the environment

clean and tidy? Become an Environmental

Champion – emailenvironmental.champions

@svcardiff.org

Shelley GardensCommunity Food

Festival, Sunday 21stJune, 12pm - 4pm.Tasty local food stalls,

food demos, workshops,live music, circus fun, face

painting and lots more!

Litter picks inCathays and Roath

Student volunteers and localresidents have collected 25bags of rubbish in Cathaysand Roath during end of termlitter picks. To get involvedwith future litter picks, emailenvironmental.champions@svcardiff.org

RSPB Cymru ArtProject in Bute Park

Help RSPB Cymru tocreate a giant web-likestructure woven betweentrees for people to climbinside for a truly uniqueexperience with nature.Volunteers will have thechance to work with aninternational artist.Visit www.rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp/volunteering

Fareshare foodcollections, 6th July,at times to suit you.

Volunteers are needed toassist Fareshare by collectingfood donations from halls ofresidences across the city, aspart of the ‘Get It Out forCardiff’ campaign. If you canhelp out, please emailsianpuddefoot@btconnect.com

Local PACT meetings Your chance to meet with your local Police representatives andlocal councillors to discuss what matters to you in your community;Plasnewydd meetings at Mackintosh Sports Centre:4th August, 1st October, 3rd DecemberCathays meetings at Crwys Rd Methodist Church:27th July, 21st September, 16th November, 14th DecemberGabalfa meetings at St Josephs on Whitchurch Rd:29th July, 9th September, 21st October, 2nd December

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On Friday 8th May, South Wales Policeinvited over 50 volunteers and 55stakeholders to an awards ceremonyto recognise the commitment ofstudent volunteers and partnersduring the academic year.

Held at Cardiff University Students’ Union,speakers from South Wales Police andCardiff University spoke about the positiveimpact that student volunteering has onour communities.

Throughout the year, volunteers getinvolved in a variety of events includingcommunity walkabouts, multi-agencyeducation drives, property marking eventsand night time patrols on the studentsafety bus.

On the recent “Going home for holidays”campaign, volunteers visited 40 streets inthe local area speaking to over 1,250residents about preventing crime bytaking valuables home for the Easterperiod.

The campaign also resulted in 199 newproperties signed up to Tidy Text scheme.

This year volunteers who dedicated themost hours of volunteering to the projecthad the opportunity to experience adifferent side of policing. Volunteers had

the opportunity to visit the CCTV controlroom, the fire arms and dogs units, thedriving school and the helicopter pad.

The scheme is growing from strength tostrength with nearly 60 volunteers nowregistered to the scheme.

STUDENTS GIVING SOMETHING BACK TO THEIR COMMUNITY

South Wales Police recognise commitment of their Student Volunteers

On Thursday 28th May, 14volunteers including Cardiff Metstudents, SU staff, Keep Wales Tidyand local residents attended an‘Environmental Champions’ litterpick in Roath.

The group met on Albany Road tocollect equipment before splitting up to

pick up litter from the surroundingstreets. The team litter picked for 1hour collecting 14 bags of rubbish.Local residents that attended weregrateful of the Students’ Union fororganising the litter pick and said thatthey would like to take part in moreprojects like this. The litter pick wasorganised as part of the voluntary

action group, ‘EnvironmentalChampions,’ who work onsustainability initiatives andcampaigns. The project is apartnership between Cardiff MetStudents' Union, Cardiff Digs, StudentVolunteering Cardiff (SVC), CardiffCouncil and Keep Wales Tidy.

Environmental Champions are keen tocarry out more volunteer litter picksthroughout the year involving morestudents, staff and residents, hoping tomake a difference within the area andbring the community together. If youwould like to join the EnvironmentalChampions mailing list, please emailacampbell@cardiffmet.ac.uk

To find out more about EnvironmentalChampions and Students’ Unionvolunteer opportunities, please visit:http://www.cardiffmetsu.co.uk/umax/employability/volunteering/

Cardiff Metropolitan Students’ Union team up with local residents for litter pick in Roath

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The City of Cardiff Council isconsulting with the public onextending an Additional LicensingScheme covering Houses inMultiple Occupation (HMOs) inCathays. The consultation periodhas begun and tenants, residentsand landlords can give their viewsby visiting – www.askcardiff.com

Following the consultation period, theinformation received will be consideredprior to a cabinet decision inSeptember to re-designate Cathays asan HMO Licensing area.

The scheme in Cathays has beenoperating successfully since March2010, with a new scheme launched inPlasnewydd recently. It requiresanyone who owns or manages anHMO in both Cathays and Plasnewyddto apply to the Council for a licence.

Cabinet Member for Environment, CllrBob Derbyshire, said: “The licensing ofHMO’s is very important to ensure thattenants renting these properties live inaccommodation which is fit for purposeand meets the legal requirements toensure their safety. We estimate thatthere are 1000 landlords who requirethis license.

“The scheme makes checks andbalances on the landlord or managerof the property to ensure they are fitand proper. Although there are manygood landlords, our research indicatesthat more than a third of HMOs wouldfail to meet Decent Homes Standards.This scheme ensures the propertiesare suitable in terms of fire safety and

kitchen and bathroom amenities andbased on the size of the rooms, setsrestrictions on the amount of peoplethat can live at the property.

“The income generated from thelicense fee, contributes to theenforcement against landlords whoflout the licensing agreement. In thelast year, the Council has broughtseven successful prosecutions againstrogue landlords who flout the rules setin their licence.”

Cllr Bob Derbyshire continued: “Wehope as many people take part in theconsultation as possible, to ensure thatwe can get views from residents livingin these communities, tenants rentingthis type of property and the landlordswho rent them. These will all weconsidered prior to the decision thatwill be made by Cabinet this autumn.”

To apply for a license, please visitwww.cardiff.gov.uk and visit thelicensing page – privatesectorhousing@cardiff.gov.uk or call 02920 871762.

CONSULTATION BEGINS ON HMO LICENSING SCHEME

#AvoidThePitfallsin private rentin

g

Contracts Flatmates Budgeting Deposits & Bonds Damp & Mould Responsibilities Know Your Rights

For advice, contact yourUniversity AccomodationOffice or Student Union.

Find us on Facebook orfollow us on Twitter

@cardiffdigs for handy tipsand advice, or visit

www.cardiffdigs.co.uk formore information

download our FREEchecklist & help sheets

for student living

Welcome to UNITY news

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CardiffUniversityStudents’Union, ElliotHowells,Student UnionPresident

“It’s been an exciting and busy semesterfor Cardiff University Students’ Union andwe’ve been reporting our progress atregular PACT meetings, which is alwaysan excellent way to work closely with thecommunity.

We’ve had some real successes withlobbying for stricter rules on the use oflettings boards on properties in Cathaysand I’m delighted to see that this has beentaken forward as legislation. A huge focusof ours was ensuring students wereregistering and voting in the General

Election. This focus meant that weincreased voter registration numbers bynearly 20,000 in 4 months as well asincreasing turnout by 8% in Cardiff Centralalone; 1.3% above the national average.This was, of course, a joint effort betweenvarious groups in the community but is atestament to the power of the student

voice in this area. Thank you to CardiffCity Council for their continued support.

We’ve also had some major successeson our campus; this month, a GP surgeryopened next door to the Students’ Unionfollowing lobbying from Officers, wesecured a £2.5M redevelopment of theback of our building which will give thewhole area a facelift, we held a debateattended by 650 students with high profilepoliticians as well as holding 5 awards’dinners celebrating the achievements ofour students. These awards included theStudent Police Volunteer Awards whichrewarded those students that make sucha difference in our community.

We are currently preparing to hand overto the new team of Officers and I’mexcited to see how they build on the workwe have done over the last year. To findout more about our campaigns andactivity, visit cardiffstudents.com.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU…Sabbatical officers are responsible for addressing the issues that affect students at their University, and for representingstudents’ views on an institutional, local and national level. Unity News would like to introduce you to Sabbatical Officersat the Student Unions of Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan and the University of South Wales. I work closely withthem to ensure campaigns and messages we work on reach our students throughout the city.

Cardiff Metropolitan Students’Union, Josh Barnett, President andStef Kelly, Vice President.

This academic year we have focussedon raising awareness of mental healthissues and have encouraged studentsto acknowledge the part they can playin providing peer support: In Octoberwe ran a week long campaign of ‘LookAfter Your Mate’ : we made a video ofstudents talking about what they did tolook after their mates, we placedcards on tables in all our commercialoperation areas, with facts/mythsconcerning mental health and wecreated a hi-visibility board where

students could post up notices ofsupport ideas.

In February this year, for UniversityMental Health Day we left‘conversation starters’ around ontables in our cafes, bar and restaurantvenues – encouraging students tothink about mental health of boththemselves and their friends andfamily. We also handed out springdaffodils – each of which had amessage of support attached

Our international work issomething that wecontinue to work on atCardiff Met as everyCardiff Met student isvitally important to us atthe Students’ Union. Thisyear both myself and theVice President were ablevisit some of our partneruniversities inAlexandria, Thessalonikiand Athens to see CardiffMet students. This waywe can ensure that their

experience at university is as close toour home students as possible.

This year we were very pleased to berecognised with the University forwinning The Times Higher StudentExperience Award. It was is a fantasticachievement to be recognised by ourown students for the amount of effortthat goes into ensuring that they havethe best experience at University andwe will continue to peruse this goal inthe future.

Useful contactsHousing Enforcement02920 871 762

For help with housing standardssuch as damp and mould, firesafety and security.

Housing Options02920 570750

For issues related tobonds/deposits, tenancyagreements and landlord disputes.

Connect 2 Cardiff (C2C)02920 872087

For Council services and generalCouncil queries.

Noise Pollution02920 871650

For issues with household noise,car alarms, dogs barking etc.

Pest control 02920 872934

For issues with rats, mice,bedbugs, etc

Police Student Liaison Officer02920 633420

For community safety issues andcrime prevention advice.

Welsh Water 0800 052 0145

For issues connected to securityon campus and to investigatenoise/disturbances in privatestudent accommodation.

Cardiff University Security02920 874444

Cardiff MetropolitanUniversity Security 02920 416155

University of South Wales01443 482055

For more useful contacts visitwww.cardiffdigs.co.uk

Read all about itHave you got a story you would like to submit? Send it to cardiffdigs@cardiff.gov.ukfor consideration. (300 words maximum, feel free to include images).

If you would like this newsletter in Welsh, please contactEmma.Robson@cardiff.gov.uk

Subscribe to UNITY news To subscribe to Unity News send your e-mail with the word ‘subscribe’ in thetitle/subject to cardiffdigs@cardiff.gov.uk. Unity news is published twice a yearat the end of academic terms in December and June. E-mail addresses will not besent to third parties or used for any other contact.

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South Wales Police have completedtheir end of term “Going Home forthe Holidays” campaign. This is acrime prevention exercise wherePolice Officers and Police StudentVolunteers speak to studentsleaving for the term time break, tooffer crime prevention and burglaryadvice.

This campaign is run 3 times a yearand has been extremely successful,and beneficial, to the studentcommunity in Cathays. During March2015, the team visited 40 streets inCathays and gave advice to 2502properties.

As part of this campaign South WalesPolice also assisted CardiffDIGS andCardiff Council with signing students tothe Tidy Text scheme which sends textmessages regarding when to put yourwaste out correctly. The campaign saw199 new properties added to thescheme.

South Wales Police continued with thecampaign during May as studentsprepare to move out of theiraccommodation for the Summerholidays. "Lock It.. Hide It.. Keep It"balloons were placed through insecuredoors and windows to highlight toresidents the dangers of leaving theirhome insecure. During 8 days ofwalkabouts in the Cathays area withthe Police Student Volunteers and stafffrom Cardiff University Security team,officers visited 1012 properties forburglary crime prevention advice.

This operation has been extremelysuccessful in highlighting the dangersof insecure properties and keepingstudents and residents of Cardiff safe.