COMMENT CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT

Is Exeter finally responding to the climate emergency?

A surge of activity about action to combat climate change is taking place in Exeter, including the publication of a carbon neutral blueprint pending a 'mobilisation summit', but detail and evidence is still missing and community engagement is falling short of debate.

Climate crisis Exeter city futures Exeter city council Net zero exeter Oxygen house Fridays for future exeter

Exeter City Council declared a climate emergency on 23 July 2019, despite having rejected a proposal to do so just five months earlier.

Nowhere in council minutes is there an absolute commitment to a date by when the city would be carbon neutral, but 2030 is the working assumption held by Exeter City Futures, the council’s chosen vehicle for mobilising the necessary changes.

A 2030 target was also reinforced by the council leader, Phil Bialyk, during the 2020/21 budget debate on 25 February.

Although the pace of activity has recently quickened, Exeter City Futures has been around since 2015, initially as an offshoot of Oxygen House, an Exeter-based capital investment business, but today operating as a Community Interest Company.

The company’s board consists of Glenn Woodcock (its founder) and representatives of the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, University of Exeter, Exeter College and Devon County Council. The board is chaired by Exeter City Council’s chief executive and growth director, Karime Hassan. Its website contains a brief history of its development.

The city council has so far contributed well over £300,000 in financial support for Exeter City Futures. Payback has not always been visible, but the 2030 target has led to a greater focus on what needs to be done to move to a carbon-neutral state.

There are now twelve goals which Exeter City Futures says “reflect the shared priorities of the city”, a claim based on the “extensive engagement and listening activities” it has carried out over the past three years.

The goals are grouped into four themes - energy, mobility, sustainability and capability - which serve as the framework for two recent publications intended to advance the action programme.

Exeter City Futures Towards Carbon Neutral Exeter key facts 2019

The first of these, Exeter key facts 2019, is a compilation of indicators grouped under the four themes, plus some general information about population, employment, crime and so on.

The objectivity of the booklet is undermined, presumably inadvertently, by the stark opening statement: “Exeter is no doubt a successful city”.

This value judgement sits uncomfortably with a later statement that eight of Exeter’s priority areas (the twenty areas with the highest inequality levels) are among the top 20% most deprived areas in the country.

That said, this is a welcome example of Exeter data being put in context, in this case a national comparison.

However, all too often in this document figures are included without any temporal or spatial comparison.

The bald fact that Greater Exeter consumes 10TWh of energy annually may mean something to someone, but without an explanation – for example whether it is typical of, higher or lower than the norm for similar settlements – it is meaningless to most of us.

Exeter City Futures Blueprint for a Carbon Neutral Exeter by 2030 graphic

The second publication, Blueprint for a Carbon Neutral Exeter by 2030, has generated a degree of excitement almost on a par with the opening of IKEA Exeter in May 2018.

According to Dr Liz O’Driscoll, managing director of Exeter City Futures, the document “sets out a specification for all the things that Exeter will need to have in place to be carbon neutral”.

In comparison with many other cities going down this road it is particularly detailed, putting forward 89 specifications deemed essential to enable the stated aim.

About twenty have quantifiable targets, others are specific about what the end result looks like.

Apart from occasional whimsical ambition - “Exeter shall be named as a single-use plastic-free city” - the specifications are challenging and relevant, though occasionally sinister: “Exeter shall have developed systems which enable and manage behavioural change”.

The document would have been more likely to win minds as well as hearts if more of the specifications were substantiated by evidence and, better still, such evidence had been used to indicate degrees of priority.

For example, which steps would be relatively cheap, which would have the greatest impact on carbon emissions and which would be likely to meet popular resistance?

In fairness, Exeter City Futures is not making excessive claims for the document. A recent tweet said: “Most of what is in our Blueprint for #NetZeroExeter is already known; but at the start of a major transformation it’s important that everyone is clear on the scale of the task we face together.”

Exeter City Futures office in Broadwalk House, Southernhay Exeter City Futures office in Broadwalk House, Southernhay

Not only is the task colossal, the crunch will come very soon according to the plans drawn up by Exeter City Futures and the council.

On 26 March a Net Zero Exeter “Mobilisation Summit” will provide the opportunity for public input into how the Blueprint should be turned into an action plan that is described as a “roadmap”.

Liz O’Driscoll told the council’s Strategic Scrutiny Committee on 16 January that she was committed to delivering the roadmap to the council’s chief executive by 31 March, just five days after the summit.

Achieving the targets set out in the blueprint will require major changes. Some will be costly, some will require behaviour change, and our attitudes to growth and consumption will need shock treatment.

Liz O’Driscoll told The Ecologist that the task is now “not about working out what to do, but working out what is standing in our way”.

Exeter City Futures Net Zero Exeter business workshop tweet

However significant issues remain unexamined. The relationship between the Exeter project and the county-wide climate emergency response being led by Devon County Council is not defined, and it is not clear whether the two initiatives will pursue independent pathways or converge.

And many discussions that have informed both have taken place behind closed doors. Blueprint consultation meetings have been held with city councillors and business interests but attendance was by invitation only and their outputs have not so far been made public.

The Devon Climate Emergency Response Group and its several sub-groups have been meeting without press or public present and the proposed Citizen’s Assembly has yet to convene, will be held in private and will not be able to decide what to discuss or who to call as witnesses when it does.

At the opposite end of the openness spectrum, the Exeter group of the youth climate movement Fridays for Future is promoting a Green New Deal for Devon which recognises the integral importance of global social and economic justice.

The Exeter City Futures blueprint does acknowledge some of the movement’s ambitions but, as reported by Exeter Observer, young people demonstrating at County Hall on 14 February were critical of it, if not always fairly.

Exeter volume housebuilding Exeter volume housebuilding at Hill Barton: energy efficiency standards will have to be much higher to meet blueprint specifications

Exeter Observer asked the city’s opposition parties to comment on the blueprint, but only Exeter Green Party responded.

A spokesperson said: “The final blueprint must clearly set out which and what combination of the many measures recommended will bring about the greatest reductions in carbon emissions in the shortest time and the investment required to achieve this.

“And to ensure it doesn’t remain a wish list the Labour-led council must use all its powers to remove barriers and change systems which limit action.

“In particular there is an urgent need to revise Exeter’s Local Plan so developers aren’t in the driving seat. We need a planning framework for housing and infrastructure that builds homes and communities able to sustain low carbon living.”

At the same time, Exeter Labour Party support for Exeter City Futures reached new heights at the recent city council budget debate.

Labour councillor after Labour councillor stood up to criticise the opposition Progressive Group, an alliance of Green Party, Independent and Liberal Democrat councillors, for submitting a budget amendment that would have reduced council funding to Exeter City Futures to instead pay for a full-time climate change officer who would be directly employed as council staff.

Exeter City Futures carbon neutral blueprint - Encounter Arts community engagement in Cathedral Green

Encounter Arts community engagement in Cathedral Green

Meanwhile, for the past fortnight, Exeter residents have been offered the chance to take part in “creative conversations” at various locations around the city where they were invited to share “thoughts, feelings and ideas” about the road to carbon neutral.

These have taken place in a rather cramped converted van provided by Totnes-based arts organisation Encounters, the carbon emissions of which did not seem to feature in the discussion.

One member of the public was deterred from entering by their assumption that the van was for children’s entertainment. The author did not find it at all conducive to serious consideration of system change.

Those who did take part were invited to choose from a list of the 89 actions specified in the blueprint then write down their priorities on a cardboard disc to be fixed to a cork board.

The author, being a shy person, would have welcomed more encouragement to engage in creative conversation from the Encounters staff.

No doubt the value of the conversations that did take place will be revealed when the van has completed its rounds.

Exeter City Futures carbon neutral blueprint - Encounter Arts community engagement responses

Encounter Arts community engagement responses

The purpose of real community engagement - as distinct from consultation - is to directly engage people in debate. Inviting people to determine carbon reduction priorities without providing any of the information necessary to make an informed choice is akin to inviting them to pin a tail on the donkey.

True engagement involves discussion between many participants in which initial assumptions are challenged and refined in the light of additional information and debate.

Whether the past four years of preparation have been worth it now depends on the outcome of the mobilisation summit in three weeks’ time on 26 March.

Free tickets for the event, which will take place from 8.30am-5pm at St James Park, are available through Eventbrite.


Recent headlines
Recent headlines
St Petrocks homelessness charity Christmas appeal 2023

St Petrock's Christmas appeal to raise funds to support its work with rough sleepers

Exeter area bus services trends map

Exeter bus services cut by nearly 42% since 2010, largest fall in area

University of Exeter St Luke's campus boundary aerial view

University seeks views on St Luke's campus redevelopment

Clifton Hill sports centre development site

Clifton Hill sports centre site - with adjacent green space - and Mary Arches car park set for sale for PBSA

Sandy Park stadium

City council gives Exeter Chiefs permission to hold Sandy Park concerts with 15,500 attendees

Recent stories
St Petrocks homelessness charity Christmas appeal 2023

NEWS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

St Petrock's Christmas appeal to raise funds to support its work with rough sleepers

Exeter homelessness charity's fundraising campaign features short film exploring how it feels to be homeless.

Exeter area bus services trends map

NEWS  ⁄  TRANSPORT & MOBILITY

Exeter bus services cut by nearly 42% since 2010, largest fall in area

Many of worst-affected neighbourhoods in areas where major developments planned or being built, some in Heavitree & Whipton Active Streets trial area.

University of Exeter St Luke's campus boundary aerial view

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

University seeks views on St Luke's campus redevelopment

Eleven acre teaching and research site between Heavitree Road and Magdalen Road to become 'health and wellbeing' campus and may include student accommodation.

Clifton Hill sports centre development site

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Clifton Hill sports centre site - with adjacent green space - and Mary Arches car park set for sale for PBSA

Reversal of policy to prohibit Purpose Built Student Accommodation on city council land proposed to cover expected £9 million outstanding Exeter City Living debt, with £800,000 budget proposed for site disposal costs.

Sandy Park stadium

NEWS  ⁄  ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE

City council gives Exeter Chiefs permission to hold Sandy Park concerts with 15,500 attendees

Permanent consent for six weekend events between 1 May and 15 July each year with amplified music to 10.30pm follows four trial concerts with audiences of just 3,500.

On Our Radar
More stories
Illustrative elevations facing Cowley Bridge Road

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

City council approves Cowley Bridge Road student blocks on former Johnsons site

350 bedspaces in four blocks up to six storeys tall to be built on windfall site left vacant after 2020 fire at former laundry and workwear factory.

University of Exeter social mobility awards graphic

ANALYSIS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

University of Exeter promotes social mobility 'silver awards' after being ranked 92nd in HEPI index

Higher Education Policy Institute social mobility ranking follows landmark study placing university 103rd in higher education social mobility league table, while South West young people are least likely to attend university in the country.

Exeter housing

ANALYSIS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

Exeter has 3,100 vacant and empty second homes, nearly 6% of city's housing stock

ONS also finds South West has 183,000 unoccupied dwellings with another 200,000 in use as second homes in the region, of which more than 4,000 are in Exeter, as statutory homelessness increases and rough sleeping doubles in city.

JCDecaux illuminated street advertising screen

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Planning inspectors uphold decisions to refuse illuminated city centre advertising screens

Appeal dismissals conclude JCDecaux 'multifunction hubs' would materially harm character, appearance and visual amenity and have 'very limited' benefits in Sidwell Street, Paris Street and South Street with High Street hub decision to follow.

Seabrook Orchards phase three illustration

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Seabrook Orchards development plans submitted one house short of key planning condition threshold

Residents group says Bloor Homes application does not address pedestrian and cycle connectivity and is 'seeking to actively avoid delivery' of agreed transport infrastructure.

Maketank window display

NEWS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

Maketank community arts centre closes after more than four years at the heart of Exeter cultural life

Crown Estate unwilling to renew lease after problems with roof preclude repairs in block scheduled for demolition as part of CityPoint redevelopment.

Spotlight
New Exeter local plan graphic

City council holds consultation on full draft of new Exeter Local Plan, set to guide development to 2040

Second major consultation begins as government introduces sweeping national planning system reforms including transfer of powers to Whitehall and changes to scope of local plans and local plan-making processes.

, updated

All topics

ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY   AIR QUALITY AIR QUALITY AIR QUALITY   COP26 COP26 COP26   COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19   CITYPOINT CITYPOINT CITYPOINT   CLIFTON HILL SPORTS CENTRE CLIFTON HILL SPORTS CENTRE CLIFTON HILL SPORTS CENTRE   CLIMATE CRISIS CLIMATE CRISIS CLIMATE CRISIS   CO-LIVING CO-LIVING CO-LIVING   COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY   CONGESTION CONGESTION CONGESTION   COUNCIL TAX COUNCIL TAX COUNCIL TAX   CROWN ESTATE CROWN ESTATE CROWN ESTATE   CYCLING & WALKING CYCLING & WALKING CYCLING & WALKING   DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT   DEVON & CORNWALL POLICE DEVON & CORNWALL POLICE DEVON & CORNWALL POLICE   DEVON CARBON PLAN DEVON CARBON PLAN DEVON CARBON PLAN   DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL   DEVON PENSION FUND DEVON PENSION FUND DEVON PENSION FUND   EAST DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL EAST DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL EAST DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL   EXETER AIRPORT EXETER AIRPORT EXETER AIRPORT   EXETER CATHEDRAL EXETER CATHEDRAL EXETER CATHEDRAL   EXETER CHIEFS EXETER CHIEFS EXETER CHIEFS   EXETER CITY COUNCIL EXETER CITY COUNCIL EXETER CITY COUNCIL   EXETER CITY FUTURES EXETER CITY FUTURES EXETER CITY FUTURES   EXETER CITY LIVING EXETER CITY LIVING EXETER CITY LIVING   EXETER CLIMATE ACTION HUB EXETER CLIMATE ACTION HUB EXETER CLIMATE ACTION HUB   EXETER COLLEGE EXETER COLLEGE EXETER COLLEGE   EXETER CULTURE EXETER CULTURE EXETER CULTURE   EXETER DEVELOPMENT FUND EXETER DEVELOPMENT FUND EXETER DEVELOPMENT FUND   EXETER LIVE BETTER EXETER LIVE BETTER EXETER LIVE BETTER   EXETER LOCAL PLAN EXETER LOCAL PLAN EXETER LOCAL PLAN   EXETER PHOENIX EXETER PHOENIX EXETER PHOENIX   EXETER PRIDE EXETER PRIDE EXETER PRIDE   EXETER SCIENCE PARK EXETER SCIENCE PARK EXETER SCIENCE PARK   EXETER ST DAVID'S EXETER ST DAVID'S EXETER ST DAVID'S   EXETER TRANSPORT STRATEGY EXETER TRANSPORT STRATEGY EXETER TRANSPORT STRATEGY   EXETER CITY CENTRE EXETER CITY CENTRE EXETER CITY CENTRE   EXTINCTION REBELLION EXETER EXTINCTION REBELLION EXETER EXTINCTION REBELLION EXETER   FREEDOM OF INFORMATION FREEDOM OF INFORMATION FREEDOM OF INFORMATION   FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE EXETER FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE EXETER FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE EXETER   GENERAL ELECTIONS GENERAL ELECTIONS GENERAL ELECTIONS   GUILDHALL GUILDHALL GUILDHALL   HARLEQUINS HARLEQUINS HARLEQUINS   HEART OF THE SOUTH WEST LEP HEART OF THE SOUTH WEST LEP HEART OF THE SOUTH WEST LEP   HOUSING CRISIS HOUSING CRISIS HOUSING CRISIS   LGBTQIA+ LGBTQIA+ LGBTQIA+   LIBRARIES UNLIMITED LIBRARIES UNLIMITED LIBRARIES UNLIMITED   LIVEABLE EXETER PLACE BOARD LIVEABLE EXETER PLACE BOARD LIVEABLE EXETER PLACE BOARD   LIVEABLE EXETER LIVEABLE EXETER LIVEABLE EXETER   LOCAL INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY LOCAL INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY LOCAL INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY   LOCAL ELECTIONS LOCAL ELECTIONS LOCAL ELECTIONS   MAKETANK MAKETANK MAKETANK   MARSH BARTON MARSH BARTON MARSH BARTON   MET OFFICE MET OFFICE MET OFFICE   MID DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL MID DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL MID DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL   NET ZERO EXETER NET ZERO EXETER NET ZERO EXETER   NORTHERNHAY GARDENS NORTHERNHAY GARDENS NORTHERNHAY GARDENS   OXYGEN HOUSE OXYGEN HOUSE OXYGEN HOUSE   PARIS STREET PARIS STREET PARIS STREET   PARKING PARKING PARKING   PENINSULA TRANSPORT PENINSULA TRANSPORT PENINSULA TRANSPORT   PLANNING POLICY PLANNING POLICY PLANNING POLICY   PRINCESSHAY PRINCESSHAY PRINCESSHAY   PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT   PUBLIC CONSULTATION PUBLIC CONSULTATION PUBLIC CONSULTATION   PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH   PUBLIC PARKS PUBLIC PARKS PUBLIC PARKS   PUBLIC REALM PUBLIC REALM PUBLIC REALM   PUBLIC TRANSPORT PUBLIC TRANSPORT PUBLIC TRANSPORT   RAMM RAMM RAMM   REFUSE & RECYCLING REFUSE & RECYCLING REFUSE & RECYCLING   RETROFIT RETROFIT RETROFIT   ROYAL DEVON NHS TRUST ROYAL DEVON NHS TRUST ROYAL DEVON NHS TRUST   SIDWELL STREET SIDWELL STREET SIDWELL STREET   SOUTH WEST EXETER EXTENSION SOUTH WEST EXETER EXTENSION SOUTH WEST EXETER EXTENSION   SOUTH WEST WATER SOUTH WEST WATER SOUTH WEST WATER   SOUTHERNHAY SOUTHERNHAY SOUTHERNHAY   SPORT ENGLAND LOCAL DELIVERY PILOT SPORT ENGLAND LOCAL DELIVERY PILOT SPORT ENGLAND LOCAL DELIVERY PILOT   ST JAMES NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN ST JAMES NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN ST JAMES NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN   ST SIDWELL'S COMMUNITY CENTRE ST SIDWELL'S COMMUNITY CENTRE ST SIDWELL'S COMMUNITY CENTRE   ST SIDWELL'S POINT ST SIDWELL'S POINT ST SIDWELL'S POINT   STAGECOACH SOUTH WEST STAGECOACH SOUTH WEST STAGECOACH SOUTH WEST   STUDENT ACCOMMODATION STUDENT ACCOMMODATION STUDENT ACCOMMODATION   TEIGNBRIDGE DISTRICT COUNCIL TEIGNBRIDGE DISTRICT COUNCIL TEIGNBRIDGE DISTRICT COUNCIL   UNIVERSITY OF EXETER UNIVERSITY OF EXETER UNIVERSITY OF EXETER   WATER LANE WATER LANE WATER LANE  

More stories