Live! has learnt that Imperial College is planning to sell Clayponds, leaving the College with nearly 300 more Freshers than beds in halls by 2003/4. Imperial College Council approved the sale of Clayponds last week in a move that is expected to raise up to £8m. Disturbingly, last Wednesday Sharine Brown (Residence’s Manager) explained at the Rector’s Committee for Student Residences that student places lost during the Southside refurbishment could be made up at Clayponds, suggesting that even Residences do not know about the plan.

The same document at College Council also suggested that the mews houses located around Southside will also be sold, affecting the RSM Motor Club, Underwater Club and Windsurfing Club who use the garages in these houses. “This contradicts what has been mentioned to the Union previously,” wrote David Francis, ICU Deputy President (Education & Welfare) in an e-mail today, “that the houses will remain College property by may be used for accommodation for visiting professors.”

Combined with the planned sale of Garden Hall, figures from Ben Hawkins, ICU Deputy President (Finance & Services) suggest that the college will have nearly 300 fewer places in hall than incoming Freshers by 2003/4. In previous years there has always been a surplus of several hundred places which are taken up by Re-apps, Assistant Wardens and Sub-wardens.

An emergency meeting of the ICU Executive Committee this evening expressed concern about the lack of consultation with students regarding the plans. “It seems that the College is run by a bunch of muppets and the Union has exposed a fuck up,” said Council Chair and former Union President Andy Heeps, “I thought they were incompetent in my day, but this really takes the biscuit.”