Community Projects

We encourage student volunteering in the community. Around 4,000 of our students actively volunteer each year.

To find out more, contact the Students’ Union Go Volunteer Team to discuss setting up a new project in your neighbourhood.

The Students’ Union has a team of Student Community Reps, who work between communities and students to help foster good relations and encourage students to get involved in community events.

Each year, the Students’ Union and University work together on a clean-up campaign called Leave Newcastle Happy, through which students also recycle goods with the British Heart Foundation.

We work with the Police, Fire Service, Students’ Union and City Council to offer students wide ranging advice on living in the community, including crime prevention, fire safety, waste management and being responsible neighbours.

We do this by making house visits, giving induction sessions for first and second-year students and through social media and other campaigns such as Love Newcastle and Respect your Neighbourhood, organised with the Students’ Union.   

Find out more about our community projects in our Community Living Flyer 2023

Resolving Issues

We do understand that, at times, problems can arise between students and permanent local residents.

We take concerns very seriously and are committed to resolving potential issues quickly through our formal complaints procedure. If a friendly word has not helped, and you are seeking advice or would like to make a complaint, use the following contacts.

Noise

Contact Newcastle City Council (0191 278 7878).

Staff are available from 08:30 and 16:30 (Monday to Friday). Calls received after this time are dealt with by a 24-hour Call Centre staffed by 'Your Homes Newcastle' and are sent to the relevant City Council team for investigation the next day.

Operation Oak

Operation Oak supports students and permanent residents on matters such as safety, noise complaints and tackling crime. It is a partnership between Northumbria Police and Newcastle’s two universities, with the universities funding additional police patrols in residential areas which have high numbers of students, such as Jesmond, Sandyford, Heaton and Ouseburn.

Officers employed by Northumbria Police for Operation Oak patrol all of these areas when on call, so that they can respond to noise issues as they arise, and for calls received on the night.

There are periods in the academic year when Operation Oak operates every evening from 10pm to 4am. These are:

The first four weeks of the academic year, including Freshers
The last two weeks of the autumn term, leading up to the Christmas vacation
The last four weeks of the academic year, starting during exams and in the period when most students who are not residents of the north east, return to their family homes

During the remainder of the academic year, Operation Oak is in place throughout each term on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings and for all major events:

Halloween
Bonfire Night
St Patrick’s Day

Any changes to dates are communicated to Ward Councillors to be shared.

Contact Operation Oak

Within these working hours please ring 101 or use the online reporting form https://beta.northumbria.police.uk/ our-services/report-it/report-an-incident – or for emergencies call 999.

Please note that from 21 November 2021 the text number for Operation Oak has been removed so that all calls to this additional service are through the Northumbria Police Call Centre. Calls about student-related issues, in any of the above areas, will be passed through to the Operation Oak officers.

Reporting Concerns

Alongside Operation Oak, staff from our two universities, Northumbria Police and Newcastle City Council meet together every Monday and Thursday to share information about incidents reported to any of the partners. From these, we work together to identify student houses that have been notified to us, so that we can arrange visits to these. As well as addressing concerns raised by neighbours, these visits provide a useful opportunity to engage with students on any issues they are experiencing, and to offer advice on housing-related issues.

If you have ongoing issues with neighbouring properties, please contact casework@ncl.ac.uk and we will share this information with our partners.

Rubbish

Contact Envirocall at Newcastle City Council for all environmental services, including street cleaning, rubbish and recycling and vandalism. Visit the Envirocall website or call 0191 278 7878 and ask for Envirocall. 

Antisocial behaviour or criminal damage

Call Northumbria Police on 101.

General noise, nuisance or other complaints

Newcastle University Student Progress Service - email casework@ncl.ac.uk.

Northumbria University - contact Northumbria University’s Crime Prevention Team to report noise nuisance or antisocial behaviour.