Members highlight widespread stress, inequity, and lost working time.
Recently, UCU invited colleagues to share their experiences of parking and campus travel. We would like to thank the many members who provided extensive feedback on this issue.
We received many dozens of pages of written comments from academic and professional services staff across multiple Schools and departments, representing a wide range of roles, contracts, working patterns and commuting circumstances.
The message from these responses was clear: members feel that parking and campus travel arrangements have become significantly more difficult in recent years, and due to the new accommodation building project the situation is worse than ever.
What Staff Told Us
While experiences vary by location and arrival time, the vast majority of feedback we received suggested that the current system is:
- Unpredictable: staff often do not know whether parking will take two minutes or twenty, with knock-on effects for scheduling and on-campus availability.
- Stressful: many staff report starting the day more anxious or frustrated than was previously the case.
- Inequitable: negative effects fall disproportionately on certain groups, such as staff with caring responsibilities; some colleagues reported additional childcare costs incurred simply to arrive early enough to secure parking.
- Structural: linked to policy changes, reduced capacity, and insufficient alternatives.
- Work Effectiveness: parking difficulties contribute to staff being late to teaching and meetings, lost time & increased preference for working from home (to avoid parking stress).
- Safety:concerns were also raised about walking across campus after dark, congested roads and insufficient secure bike storage.
Many colleagues reported that if they arrive after 9am, finding a space becomes significantly harder. It is common to spend 10–20 minutes or more searching for parking in high-demand areas.
Recurring concerns in the feedback included:
- Competition between staff, students, visitors, and external users.
- Loss of nearby parking capacity and increased reliance on distant car parks.
- Shuttle services that are described as unreliable or impractical, notwithstanding recently announced improvements.
- Rising parking charges alongside worsening availability.
What Staff Want to See
The most common suggestions for practical improvements included:
- Better management of student and visitor parking near workplaces and prioritising staff parking in high-demand areas.
- Improved distribution of staff-centred parking capacity aligned with where staff work.
- More reliable shuttle services for cases when distant parking remains necessary.
- Investment in active travel, including safer cycling routes and secure bike storage.
- Consideration of longer-term infrastructure solutions where appropriate.
Some colleagues emphasised sustainability and reducing car use overall. However, even these responses acknowledged that current alternatives are not yet reliable or practical enough for many staff.
University Responses So Far
Student parking is now limited to car parks 1 (multi-storey), 7 (Robert Bakewell), and Holywell, and this is enforced using cameras. A significant number of short-stay spaces by the swimming pool have been returned to normal use. These measures have helped to ease pressure in East Park.
We are told that problems are most acute Tuesday to Thursday during semesters 1 and 2. Those who have the option are encouraged to help spread demand through the week by moving office days to Monday and Friday.
Management are hopeful that the temporary car parks near Towers will become available again after a period of fair weather, however these will always remain weather dependent and so are not reliable, especially during semesters 1 and 2 when demand is high.
We are assured that only on open days does the demand for parking outstrip the capacity on campus, and that there is always parking available, usually in the multi-storey and at Holywell Park. However, this clearly does not address the issue of the extra 40-60 minutes of travel time it would take to park at Holywell and travel to and from East Park if that were necessary, or the inequity around who this is likely to impact most.
Management have been explicit in saying that this time spent travelling across campus does not count as working hours – meaning that individuals are expected to take a significant hit to their own time as a result of the recent changes. This cannot be acceptable.
Support for a Campaign and How to Get Involved
While pay, workload and pensions remain core union priorities, many colleagues emphasised that parking problems are materially affecting daily working lives and supported UCU campaigning on this issue.
We can work together to improve car parking, but more work will be needed to communicate the strength of feeling on this issue to management. If you would like to help shape next steps, please contact our Branch Organiser, Callum Salfield.
Parking should not be a daily source of stress, inequity or lost time. Thank you again to everyone who contributed – and we will keep you updated.