THIS year I am more apprehensive than usual about the imminent return of university students to Durham City. In fact I’m scared.

The prospect of nearly 20,000 students from all over the UK and beyond congregating in this little city is particularly alarming to medically vulnerable people.

In the past it has merely been unpleasant to be jostled by students walking two abreast looking at their mobiles as one walks along Church Street or Margery Lane, but this year it could be much more serious.

The university’s Vice-Chancellor needs to lay out precisely what measures the university is

taking, in order to reassure us all, and to prevent the city

centre from becoming a no-go area to people who have health

issues.

Shared student houses are a particular cause of concern.

At a time when I will face a big fine if I pop round to a neighbour to borrow a cup of sugar, students will be sharing kitchens, bathrooms and viruses in little terraced houses, which greedy landlords have converted to hold as many people as possible.

If one student tests positive, they will all be cooped up inside for a fortnight.

No sport, no seminars, no shopping, no socialising. How will they manage?

How is the university going to monitor what is going on and enforce the regulations? Presumably the university does at least know where all its students live?

The authoritarian stance of the government calls, unfortunately, for a similarly assertive approach from the university towards any of its students breaking the rules.

Otherwise Durham City risks becoming one of the most dangerous places in the UK for those most vulnerable to Covid-19.

Timothy Cannam, Durham.