Students are to blame for an increase in anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Jesmond this year, according to local Liberal Democrat councillor Gerry Keating, who says he has seen unpublished statistics from local pressure group ‘End Anti Social Behaviour in Jesmond’.

The claims come as a new academic year begins, and students already start seeking homes for the next year. Keating, who represents North Jesmond on Newcastle City Council, insists that almost the entirety of ASB reports were due to students.

Keating told JesmondLocal: “The start of this year’s academic term has produced more bad behaviour and on a wider scale than in 2020-2021. In that period, there was such an increase in ASB in Jesmond that it both spread to a lot more houses and was of a greater intensity in many of them. This year I am receiving more complaints than last year.”

Keating says that while there is an increase in incidents of anti-social behaviour, he acknowledges some streets have not reported any increase in problems. The ongoing problems between students and residents were the subject of the BBC programme Students in Suburbia – Newcastle shown last year.

Keating’s concerns come as Operation Oak, a partnership formed between Northumbria Police and Newcastle’s universities, is still in operation and is focused on combating anti-social behaviour and improving relations between the student population of the city and local residents.

Operation Oak, which has an annual budget of £125,000, provides additional police patrols in residential areas which have high numbers of students, such as Jesmond, Sandyford, Heaton and Ouseburn.

However, Keating, a member of the council’s Students in Newcastle Forum, believes changes need to be made for the initiative to be effective post-lockdown following what he says is an increase in anti-social behaviour.

Keating added: “Operation Oak worked quite well when it had a bespoke telephone number and certainly alleviated ASB issues during lockdown. I know that all this is paradoxical, but I walk the streets and ride the Metro quite a lot at the start and finish of the term, and I receive all the ASB data and I am confident of what I say.”

His claim prefigures data compiled and published on Police.UK, the national website for policing in the UK. That shows in the Jesmond and Heaton area there has been a drop in reported anti-social behaviour for the month of June, 2022 compared to the previous two years which included the national lockdown and restrictions.

It should be noted the figures do not differentiate between students and the general public.

However, there is a two month time lag between figures being compiled and released, therefore there will be a delay in verifying if Keating’s claims are correct and there has been a rise in anti-social behaviour.

Newcastle City Council have posted signs in the Jesmond area warning that police may confiscate alcohol.

While Operation Oak is designed to deal with anti-social behaviour in the wider Jesmond area, residents have come up with their own ideas to try and ensure good relations between locals and students in individual streets.

Suky Drummond, secretary of Fern Avenue Residents Group, told JesmondLocal: “Personally, I would say that the current state of the relationship depends entirely on who you ask and when. On our street we recently had a welcome event for our student residents which was really well attended and resulted, hopefully, in everyone just recognising each other as people and neighbours.

“On the other hand, if you ask someone who lives next door to a student household that has just had a party the night before you’d probably get a very different answer.”

Drummond added: “I can’t imagine there is one thing that would ease the problem. However, tolerance, recognising your neighbours as part of a community and treating each other with mutual respect would be a good start but that needs to come from all sides.”

Jesmond residents have previously told JesmondLocal what they think makes a good neighbour.