STUDENTS in Stanmore have rejected claims that their growing presence threatens “all-out war” with residents.

A petition with more than 320 signatures said that the former council estate is at “breaking point” with students who cause anti-social behaviour, damage to property, overflowing bins and parties keeping children awake in the early hours of the morning.

But Winchester University students said they feel like scapegoats for problems caused by local residents and a minority of their peers.

“First years are much more inclined to go out,” said Abi Johnson, a liberal arts student living in Cromwell Road.

“We’re all being blamed. I don’t think it was this bad last year. It’s just too many people."

She said students were also scapegoats for “crazy, crazy loud” music coming from a nearby family house.

Student and neighbour Guy Kirk-Lynch said: “We get emails from the uni and our landlords telling us to keep the noise down. They said the complaint was at two o’clock in the morning – we weren’t even here.”

The long-standing tensions have resurfaced in recent weeks with residents and students agreeing that the disruption has escalated this term.

The university’s record intake and a lack of campus accommodation has pushed some freshers into private houses ordinarily rented by older students.

Local councillor Derek Green said: “I don’t think it’s all the students. I live on Stanmore estate and I’m surrounded by eight or nine student properties and I’ve not had one single problem.

“They’re all getting tarred with the same brush because there are one or two bad apples. It’s so unfair.”

Petition creator Amanda Chard said trouble from locals was “manageable” but the growing student population has upset the balance of the community.

“The petition is about addressing an imbalance,” she said. “This isn’t about demonising students.”

But she stood by her comments that the estate faced “all-out war” if tensions went unresolved.

“I think if something isn’t done that’s eventually what will happen,” she said. “I’m terrified of that happening.”

Her petition calls on councillors to bring forward a proposed clampdown on family homes being converted into house shares which are popular with students.

Cllr Ian Tait, portfolio holder for housing services, said tightening the rules without the usual year’s notice would be an “absolute disaster” because it could deflate house prices and open the council to compensation claims from residents.

The petition is set to be debated by Winchester City Council after it broke the 300-signature threshold.