Should the police prepare for more calls to Garthdee as residents and students clash over parking?
Or should RGU chiefs “find another way” to continue paying for permits and avoid potential conflict?
These theories and more emerged as Garthdee community leaders gathered to address an issue that has inflamed residents in recent days.
RGU is backing out of a deal to pay for parking permits for people living on streets surrounding the campus.
The arrangement, dating back more than 20 years, was put in place to stop the area becoming swamped with student vehicles.
News that bosses can no long afford to maintain it has left hundreds of people facing the prospect of shelling out to park outside their house.
Local leaders laid bare the situation before them during a meeting this week – while pledging to avoid turning the issue into a “ding dong”.
RGU’s shock U-turn on permits after finances plummeted
After addressing various other local issues in the meeting room at Inchgarth Community Centre, chairman Tom Malcolm sighed: “Let’s bite the bullet.”
Number eight on the agenda: The controlled parking zone in Garthdee.
Mr Malcolm explained that talks about continuing the deal had been going on for months, with little cause for alarm.
Until about a fortnight ago.
He relayed a recent meeting he had with RGU bosses, where they put forward the institution’s stark financial predicament.
Garthdee Community Council boss says parking row is ‘not something RGU wants’
The uni needs to shed some 200 jobs, which is said to be 15% of the workforce, in a brutal savings drive brought about by dwindling funding and a drop in the number of high-paying international students.
This, combined with soaring living costs, has left RGU battling to save £18 million.
“Against all of this, the cost of keeping the zone is about £40,000 per year – and that could be a couple of jobs,” Mr Malcolm explained.
“It’s not something they want… They would rather be supporting the community.
“The reality is there’s no money. But if we do away with the CPZ then it’s just a free-for all.”
‘Can’t something be done?’
Fellow community councillor Lucy Murphy argued that, regardless of the cash crisis, residents “shouldn’t be expected to pay for an issue created by RGU”.
She said: “They need to try looking at a lot of different things to work it out. Be resourceful.
“They have a lot of property and a lot of assets there.
“I struggle to believe they can’t find another way to make money. They should get their finger out and do something.
“And if they are out of this, then they are out of this for good. And we get stung.”
Another member joked: “Imagine how busy the police are going to be with all this about people parking outside others’ front doors.”
Veteran councillor for Airyhall, Broomhill and Garthdee, Ian Yuill, pleaded for calm when negotiating with RGU.
He told the community council: “Ding dongs don’t help.”
Mr Malcolm agreed: “We need time to let people cool down… I don’t want us to seem like an angry mob.”
Garthdee Community Council says some residents sell parking permits
However, some at the community council meeting argued that parking permits are not required anyway on streets further away from the Garthdee campus.
Mr Malcolm questioned if many who have permits really need them.
The chairman added: “A lot of people have these permits and sell them to RGU students anyway… You shouldn’t be selling it.”
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So what next for Garthdee residents facing threat of paying to park?
Local councillors Ian Yuill and Derek Davidson met with university chiefs on Wednesday.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Yuill told us there had been no change in position – but stressed he had “made the view of his constituents clear”.
Meanwhile, the community council is hoping to arrange a public meeting where locals can raise their concerns with RGU representatives.
This is hoped to take place in late May or early June.
RGU previously stressed that, as of December 2025, they will have no “legal obligation” to pay for the controlled parking zone.
A spokesman said that it had spent more than £300,000 over the last 10 years “to reduce the impact of traffic associated with our university community”.
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