Phil Pass for SRC Accommodation Officer

[RandomMusings]

Fellow Sinners,

I feel now is the time for me to come out and start my own thread. I was considering commenting on the 'ron for acc officer' campaign thread, but think it is best that I started my own so that I can address any questions directly and personally.

I am serious about this campaign, and serious about representing the views of all members of the student body to the best of my ability.

I am not afraid to petition government, council, the university, or even individual agents/wardens on any issue that would be brought to my attention if I were elected Accommodation Officer. Neither would I be averse to organising large scale protests or including the national media if the situation so warrented it. I believe consultations with large groups and with individuals are always necessary, especially if they have a strong view on an issue, and I would endeavour to keep communication up through this here sinner, through the university website (let's hope it improves further), through posters and flyers, and through meetings or even a chat over tea/coffee.

Most of all, I want to be able to represent on not only the hugely important issues of Fife Park, Affordable Accommodation, Deposits, Renting, Uni Accommodation and its varying state of disrepair, national decisions and HMOs. I want to be able to deal with the small things too: a repair not being carried out after numerous requests, an individual problem with a landlord, an access door being kept shut due to bureaucracy or anything else that I may be able to help with. I will always be contactable, I will always listen, and I will always take cases seriously.

I regard every small case where I may one extra student happy, a case worth persuing and fighting for.

Any questions, get in touch - we have 3 days and counting.....

Phil Pass

[hr]

Phil Pass
SRC Accommodation Officer Candidate

[Lord Alisk]

I suppose firstly, what is your opinion on the whole 'ron for acc officer'

Second, (I apologise for being possibly very ignorant about such things) what experience would you bring to the position.

Third, I was wondering how confident you are that you would be different in the position to the previous office holders. How important is the issue of the lowering/stopping increases of rents in university accomodation to you, and if so, how would you actually go about achieving these aims.

I hope this doesn't seem nasty, I am just curious about the practicalities.

[MJC]

Quoting Lord Alisk from 11:23, 11th Mar 2008
I suppose firstly, what is your opinion on the whole 'ron for acc officer'

That seems a little daft for a question. Are you expecting him to endorse a rival candidate?

[Lord Alisk]

I don't expect Phil Pass to endorse James, I was just wondering whether he thought that it was right for him to be barred, and as he had considered commenting on the thread relating to that, I just wondered what he thought.

[MJC]

Quoting Lord Alisk from 12:02, 11th Mar 2008
I don't expect Phil Pass to endorse James, I was just wondering whether he thought that it was right for him to be barred, and as he had considered commenting on the thread relating to that, I just wondered what he thought.

I think it would be irresponsible for anyone running for a position in the union to support James' actions.

[Lord Alisk]

I am not suggesting he support James, just whether he believed the punishment to be proportional to the offence.

[MJC]

Quoting Lord Alisk from 12:28, 11th Mar 2008
I am not suggesting he support James, just whether he believed the punishment to be proportional to the offence.

I thought that he had not been punished yet and was banned from the union pending a meeting with the disciplinary committee. I can tell you that, if he comments at all, he is not going to disagree with what I have written and that there is no point in pushing the question as it would be inappropriate of him to comment.

[RandomMusings]

Lord Alisk, thanks for your questions, sorry it's taken a while to get back to you.

1) To the first question, I would rather not comment upon the situation discussed there. I think the fact that I decided not to comment on that issue on the particular thread in mention, should show that I would not be drawn on the issue elsewhere. Sorry if this answer seems overly diplomatic, but what has happened, has happened.

2) What experience do I bring to the role?
Well, firstly, I have had experience of dealing with problems in both university and private accommodation for myself, and I feel that I can take this on to the larger scale.
I feel I am well known within the union and the university on a wider scale as I have extensive committee experience and with the chairing of committees.
With the specific accommodation experience, I have been in contact with the current officer (James Shield) and with Steve Savage and have been following the issues that are currently most debated.
I know, from the volume of recent campaigns and also from the AGM, that affordable accommodation is a huge issue right now with many different ideas on how to tackle it.

I don't want to give away too many of my policy ideas prior to the hecklings tonight, and I hope you understand that. However, I would look to work with the ideas that James Shield brought in, and with the ideas of Mr Pollard and his friends with the Lower Rents Now! Coalition. I believe large scale consultation on the big issues to be vital and I would try to be inclusive of as many people as I can - every view matters to me.

I am NOT afraid to try any tactic from meetings with the university hierarchy, to petitions, to contacting local/national councillors and the media, to full scale protests. The students need their worries on housing and accommodation dealt with, especially in the current economic climate, and I feel I am the best person to take on the job to the next stage.

***
I hope this answers your questions sufficiently for now, and if there is anything else, or something that I have missed out, then please get back in touch. I shall look forward to meeting you tonight at the hecklings. Please come and introduce yourself and we can gladly have a chat.

[hr]

Phil Pass
SRC Accommodation Officer Candidate

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Vote Friday March 14th 2008

[RandomMusings]

Lord Alisk, thanks for your questions, sorry it's taken a while to get back to you.

1) To the first question, I would rather not comment upon the situation discussed there. I think the fact that I decided not to comment on that issue on the particular thread in mention, should show that I would not be drawn on the issue elsewhere. Sorry if this answer seems overly diplomatic, but what has happened, has happened.

2) What experience do I bring to the role?
Well, firstly, I have had experience of dealing with problems in both university and private accommodation for myself, and I feel that I can take this on to the larger scale.
I feel I am well known within the union and the university on a wider scale as I have extensive committee experience and with the chairing of committees.
With the specific accommodation experience, I have been in contact with the current officer (James Shield) and with Steve Savage and have been following the issues that are currently most debated.
I know, from the volume of recent campaigns and also from the AGM, that affordable accommodation is a huge issue right now with many different ideas on how to tackle it.

I don't want to give away too many of my policy ideas prior to the hecklings tonight, and I hope you understand that. However, I would look to work with the ideas that James Shield brought in, and with the ideas of Mr Pollard and his friends with the Lower Rents Now! Coalition. I believe large scale consultation on the big issues to be vital and I would try to be inclusive of as many people as I can - every view matters to me.

I am NOT afraid to try any tactic from meetings with the university hierarchy, to petitions, to contacting local/national councillors and the media, to full scale protests. The students need their worries on housing and accommodation dealt with, especially in the current economic climate, and I feel I am the best person to take on the job to the next stage.

***
I hope this answers your questions sufficiently for now, and if there is anything else, or something that I have missed out, then please get back in touch. I shall look forward to meeting you tonight at the hecklings. Please come and introduce yourself and we can gladly have a chat.

[hr]

Phil Pass
SRC Accommodation Officer Candidate

***********************************
Vote Friday March 14th 2008

[Lord Alisk]

Thanks,

I understand then need for diplomacy; sorry I misunderstood that.

Anyhoo, you answered me fully; many thanks.

And you were very prompt.

[RandomMusings]

Hi All,

Just realised that I did not get my policies up on here after the hecklings as I intended to, so here they are. My apologies if any spellings are incorrect, but it is late/early and I've just returned from some last minute publicity runs.

Why am I running for Accommodation Officer?
- I'm running because I believe there is still a lot of work to be done with all aspects of accommodation in St Andrews and I have the ideas to overcome, and the ability to make the ideas work.
- I want to fight for student's rights and any small positive result that improves the life of one extra student is worth the effort to me.

What will I address?
- Affordable Accommodation: I will ensure that the 1000 affordable beds campaign does not flounder or get left behind. Instead, I am prepared to take this issue on and on as it is something I truely believe in. St Andrews is expensive enough to live in without accommodation prices finishing everything off. I will continue the petitions, pester the university until they are sick of the sound of me and garner student views on future developments (such as the Fife Park re-development) in order to make sure that the university has the full picture when planning its next steps. If all this fails, then I am not afraid of organising protests or contacting national/local press to help us get what we want.

- Consultation: I want to improve consultation and communication between students who know what they want, and the university who think they know what they want. The aim is to make sure that no-one else suffers like Uni Hall has this year, in future.

- Deposit Protection Scheme: Lobby the local and national (Scottish) Government to pass the deposit protection scheme in similar ways to what has just been accepted in England and Wales. Too many students are losing their deposits due to false processes conducted by the estate agents. By keeping deposits with an independent 3rd party, as this scheme proposes, any with-holdings of money will have had to be proved legitimately.

- Encourage hall committees to have more of an input into the accommodation system

- Continuing the how to rent survey and publishing ALL results this year - that's right, the worst offenders will be named and shamed.

- To keep pushing for HMO quotas to be kept off the political agenda whilst trying to ensure that any flats which should have an HMO are appropriately registered - we are suffering a shortage of 3 and 4 person flats in the town because some landlords appear to be restricting 4 person flats to 2 persons only in order to avoid HMOs.

- To deal with any individual, personal issue as quickly and concisely as is humanly possible. This can be private or uni accommodation based and will be treated confidentially if it is so required.

- Finally, I want to reform the private renting system. I would work closely with the new DoR to ensure that these ideas could be pushed through and worked out for next year. I don't want to see people queueing overnight outside estate agents. I propose a central flat list to be e-mailed/accessed by e-mail so that no-one has an advantage by rushing to sleep outside the night before.

*************************

I hope all these ideas make sense to everyone and I'm more than willing to answer any questions during the campaigning day - come and find me and chat to me - I'll be at the library and/or the union throughout the day!!!

Many thanks,
Phil

[hr]

Phil Pass
SRC Accommodation Officer Candidate

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Vote Friday March 14th 2008