By Ashleigh Smith, Madeleine Letherby and York Atkinson

Six students living on Clayton Road have won Newcastle University’s first “Best Neighbour on Campus” (BNOC) award. The scheme, which is running for four months this year, awards £1,000 to one student household each month that has gone “above and beyond” in terms of contribution to the local community.

Newcastle University is hoping that the award will improve relationships between students and local residents and help reduce the number of anti-social behaviour incidents.

Only five households were nominated this month, but Ronnie Reid, president of Newcastle University Students’ Union, told JesmondLocal that all five nominations were of a high quality and “outline some of the work that students do in the local community”.

North Jesmond coucillor Stella Postlethwaite sat on the judging panel for the BNOC award and explained the judges’ reasons for selecting the winning household. “The six students who won know their neighbours and talk to them out on the street. They put their bins out on the right day and wheel them back onto the property afterwards. They keep their front garden tidy and they are considerate when they have occasional parties.”

JesmondLocal spoke to two of the Clayton Road winners, English student Matthew Coombes and earth science student Oscar Simons. They explained how they and their housemates were surprised when they found out they had won, as they were unaware that the award even existed.

Winning household on Clayton Road

The students were nominated by a neighbour three doors down, who described them as the best student neighbours they have had in 40 years. Simons shed some light on what living in Jesmond means to him: “It’s a really nice area and there are a lot of students about, so you’ve got to be respectful of the people who aren’t students here,” he said. “The fact that we have relationships with them really makes you feel like part of the community.”

Marc Lintern, director of employability at Newcastle University, spoke to JesmondLocal about the tensions between students and residents in the Jesmond area and how the university hopes the BNOC award will improve the situation.  “One of the things that came out of discussions was that residents didn’t think the university was doing anything about the problems residents had raised,” Lintern explained. “This competition is one way of showing residents that the university is being proactive.”

When asked about the Times story published last year which revealed Newcastle University students to be the worst in the country for receiving fines for anti-social behaviour, Lintern said the fines are imposed “because we are trying to improve relationships. Some universities will shrug their shoulders, but we are trying to tackle this and what we find is that when students are fined, we don’t see them do it again.”

Simons said he and his housemates are using the £1,000 prize money to fund a skiing trip. “You could take the mick if you wanted to, as you’re only going to live in Jesmond for a year. I’m from London, not Newcastle and if I wanted to I could do what I want and then go home… but that’s not in our nature,” he said.

Jesmond residents who have student neighbours they think deserve recognition can nominate them here.