• Do you love living in Clarendon Park?
• Do you wish the rate of burglary was lower in Clarendon Park?
• Would you like to become more involved in the community?

The “I Love Clarendon Park” project encourages all residents to get involved, and feel proud of their community. Clarendon Park has become a much sought after area for many students and to ensure it remains as pleasant as possible we have launched this project. Whilst keeping students proud of the area they live in, the aim is to raise awareness of how you can get involved in the local community through various volunteering projects but also to highlight the various services and facilities available to you in the area! The aim is that by taking pride in the area you live in, it makes it harder to differentiate between the students and non students, and thus less attractive to burglars which would reduce the high rate of burglary in the area.

When you rent private accommodation in the community you become are one of the biggest targets for burglary. Student properties are notorious for being easily broken in to and containing lots of valuable belongings. It is known that many landlords don’t maintain the properties which can cause them to be easily burgled; coupled with the fact that some students don’t take the necessary precaution to help prevent burglary such as always locking windows and doors.  Burglars know that once inside a student property it is filled with expensive technology and generally all of the housemates have their individual belongings making it highly attractive to burglars. In March this year (2011) there were nearly five burglaries a week in the Clarendon Park area. A Police Plan Initiative has since been introduced to tackle this figure and seen some reduction in burglary numbers but this project will supplement the great work of the local police.

At the start of the new academic year, PC Harvey Watson, The Student Welfare Service and their team of student volunteers will be visiting as many student properties in the local community as possible. The aim of this is to inform students about how to live in the community, to respect others living in the community, how the local area operates for example recycling schemes and to make you aware of the high risk of burglary. If you are a student and would like to contact PC Harvey Watson, find his on facebook under ‘University of Leicester- Campus Cops’.  If you are interested in volunteering to door knock in the area please get in touch with the ‘Contact Student Volunteering Association’ on contact@le.ac.uk for more information. Any volunteering you do for this project can be used towards the Leicester Award accreditation.

This project is run by the University in conjunction with Leicestershire constabulary, Leicester City Council, Students’ Union and links in with the Contact student community rep volunteering project and many local businesses and shops in the area.

If you would liek see some other accounts of how good a comminuty there is in Clarendon Park have a look at the following:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/aug/12/lets-move-to-clarendon-park-stoneygate-leicester

We can also supply the much sought after “I Love CP” window car stickers!