Sport Preview of Pirates' coming season Page 23 Issue 142 · Wednesday, October 16, 2002
UEA's independent student newspaper
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Fashion: Dress up with our guide to this season's chunky jewellery Report: The shocking truth about you and breast cancer ANCiER AT PARKINCi FEE RISE REBECCA LAWRENCE News Edito r
Concrete can exclusively announce that the cost to park at UEA could be set to rise to £1 per day.
New UEA student victim to horrific assault as campus cameras are "being upgraded" A VIOLENT attack took place on campus last week when a first year was confronted by five thugs outside Waveney Terrace. Two weeks after arriving at UEA, OPT student Emily McMullen was cornered by a gang of youths who forced her to the ground and stole her bag. The attackers snatched her mobile phone, money and other personal belongings. The incident happened on
Saturday October 5 at around 11 pm as she walked back alone from the Union Bar to her Wolfson Close bedroom. As she was walking up the Nelson Court steps she noticed two boys in their late teens circling around on their bikes. She continued down the main road , adjacent to Waveney Terrace M Block, when she heard a shout and was attacked by five youths on their bikes. Four of the boys were in front of her and one was behind. Her bag was yanked hard over her head, jarring her neck and making her fall to the g~ound . Emily claims she would not
CHARLOTTE ROLAND
normally walk alone but the walk should only take two minutes. "I thought I'd be safe on a busy road and staying close to the accommodation". But the inci dent has called into question the effectiveness of campus security as members of security told Emily that there were no CCTV cameras on the stretch of road she was on as they are being upgraded. She finds it amazing that there is such a good security system in the car park.
"But students seems to be a second priority". But Security Co-ordinator Ron Elliot insists there are more than cameras on Campus put at strategic places. 'We put them in areas which potentially carry the most risk to act as a deterrent and students may not want cameras so close to accommodation . "We do out best to put the cameras in calculated places. We 've had new ones installed recently and we are constantly reviewing our levels of coverage but we do have to balance the needs of security and intrusion into people's lives," said Mr Elliot.
And he also claims that lighting is an important issue which needs to be looked into . "lt is difficult to say if this would have played a part in preventing the crime. People should try to keep to well lit areas on Campus, but there must be a balance between lit areas and light pollution. The University has recently attempted to tighten up security by paying to have police presence on patrol around campus. Do you have any information on the mugging? If so, please call Norfolk Police on 01603 768769 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 .
The news emerged after a new travel plan was circulated to staff, explaining that they will no longer just have to pay the current £30 per year charge. Instead, all students and staff could be forced to spend £1 every day they want to park on the campus. For some that could mean a cost of more than £120 - forcing some students to take out extra loans. But University Travel Co-ordinator, Dawn Dewar insists that the new charges are essential to reduce car parking chaos on campus. Part of the overhaul could include a new bus service to bring staff and students in from the NR2 postcode area - which includes the Golden Triangle and parts of the city centre. A decision on the action will not be made until December following a public meeting. The changes are scheduled to begin in September 2003. See page 3 for students' reactions to the news. Concrete comment, page 6
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