Students are victims too

Sir, – Following the debate surrounding Fife Council’s decision to impose a threshold on HMO properties in St Andrews, I wanted to give the perspective of a St Andrews student living in private accommodation.

This is not a direct response to Councillor Holt’s letter to the paper, as she seems to have made up her mind that students are nothing but troublemakers who should be locked up safely in halls of residence.

Instead I would like to respond to Councillor Thomson’s claim that “there is currently no shortage of accommodation for students in St Andrews”.

This betrays a deep lack of understanding for just how difficult it is to find affordable student accommodation in St Andrews.

The discussion around the HMO ban sometimes seems to suggest that students are choosing to push up prices in residential areas. Please understand that I did not choose to move into a bungalow near a primary school next year. I did so because exceptionally high competition and extortionate rates in the town centre forced me to.

St Andrews has a housing problem, but the students are not the problem. Like the rest of the town’s wonderful and diverse community, they are the victims. A longterm solution will require the university and local authorities to work together and I hope all parties realise this before St Andrews becomes an option for only the wealthiest of students. Euan Notley. Largo Road, St Andrews.