STILL waters run deep, the saying goes, and Oxford City Council faces a forceful tide against its student housing policies in the form of Oxford University bursars.
The bursars are a traditionally conservative group, not prone to publicity.
And it is for that reason the city council should take heed of this shot across its bows.
The bursars are unhappy at plans to force contributions to be made for affordable housing when accommodation for students is built, as well as restricting the number of properties in multiple occupation.
They also accuse the council of an “unjustifiably negative view of students”.
That, in context, is an extraordinarily strongly-worded statement from the bursars and sets the framework for what could be a classic Town v Gown argument. And the residents of East Oxford, in particular, will be disturbed at their intervention.
The city council, which is trying to balance the economic benefits of the university with the views of families in student-heavy areas, may have just found itself very much between a rock and a hard place.
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