Democracy doesn't work when people don't know  Upgrade to paid

NEWS

District heating network planned for new South West Exeter development

Local councils are investing up to £7.3 million in a £23 million project to supply a development of 2500 homes with heat which depends on the Marsh Barton waste incinerator, Exeter’s largest single source of carbon emissions.

Martin Redfern

Exeter City Council, Teignbridge District Council and Devon County Council have agreed to help fund a project to supply the new South West Exeter development with heat generated by the Marsh Barton waste incinerator.

The scheme is not currently commercially viable because of the need for substantial upfront capital investment and uncertain rates of return, so the councils have agreed to support it with £7.3 million of funding in the form of grants and loans. The funding is expected to come from developer contributions, including the Community Infrastructure Levy. An advance payment of £50,000 will be made available for preliminary infrastructure works to take place.

The incinerator is Exeter’s largest single source of carbon emissions, burning 60,000 tonnes of waste each year. The £45 million plant, which is run in partnership with Devon County Council, currently generates electricity to power the equivalent of more than 6,600 homes. It opened in 2014 and is expected to remain in use until 2050.

The new district heating network will distribute heat generated by burning rubbish to nearby residential and commercial properties through a system of insulated pipes. The heat can be used for both space and water heating, although a dedicated gas boiler energy centre will be required to top it up. This will consume nearly 5000MWh of natural gas each year once the system is fully operational.

Exeter energy recovery facility Exeter energy recovery facility. Image: Exeter City Council.

Viridor, the plant’s operator, says export of heat from the facility is around five times more energy efficient than its electricity generation. It will have the capacity to heat new homes and commercial buildings at Marsh Barton as well as those planned as part of the South West Exeter development.

The councils say that the network would reduce carbon emissions from the proposed new homes by up to 2,500 tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year, compared with every home instead using gas-fired domestic boilers. This figure does not, however, account for the carbon emissions generated by the waste incinerator, which were nearly 51,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year in 2018 according to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

No consideration appears to have been given to the possibility of other sources of heat being used to supply the network in future, apparently committing the city to high impact waste incineration for another thirty years. A wide range of heat sources are used to power the thousands of such heating networks in use around the world, many of which are truly low or zero carbon. These include geothermal and solar energy and heat pumps in a variety of configurations. Denmark is expected to use renewable sources for all its energy by 2050.

South West Exeter development location map South West Exeter development map. Source: Devon County Council.

The South West Exeter development of 2500 new homes on the Teignbridge edge of Exeter will be larger than Exminster. It is presented as an extension of Exeter’s suburbs, although 80% of the new homes will come under the jurisdiction of Teignbridge District Council. It will include a school for 1400 pupils, shops and community facilities.

The 90 hectare site, which stretches from Alphington to the M5 with the A379 dividing it in two, is expensive to develop because of its steep topography, existing road layout and proximity to the environmentally important Exe Estuary. 21.5 hectares are allocated as employment land at nearby Peamore.

Devon County Council received £55.1 million from the national Housing Infrastructure Fund in February 2019 to pay for new roads and junctions, upgrades to roads, a pedestrian/cycle bridge to cross the A379, a public park and community building and a new electricity substation to help enable site development.

The funding is provided as a grant to the county council, which is allowed to reclaim the cost of providing the infrastructure from developers as the housing is built. Once funding is recovered, the county council can use it to support further development sites.

Democracy doesn't work when people don't know

Public interest news that holds power and influence to account is more important now than it has ever been.

Democracy doesn't work when people don't know who is deciding what on whose behalf and what the costs and consequences of those decisions will be.

Exeter Observer was created to deliver the independent investigative journalism our local democracy needs.

It exists because people who think what we do matters are willing to chip in each month to help cover our costs.

We need more of our readers to contribute like this so we can keep producing and publishing our essential reporting.

133 of the 300 paying subscribers we need have signed up so far. Join them today to help us reach our goal.

If you value the work we do please support our work from less than £2/week. It's a small investment for a very big return.

Upgrade to paid

More stories
Grace Road Fields in March

Botched consultation restarted on sale of 8.5 acres of Riverside Valley Park green space

Council land disposal to include rights to lay underground distribution pipework across River Exe floodplain following “low-to-zero carbon” Grace Road Fields heat plant planning approval in face of Environment Agency sequential test concerns.

September 2025 permitted replacement scheme west elevation

Council denies data and contrives criteria to dismiss community balance concerns in third King Billy student block approval

Exeter Observer analysis finds more students living in city centre than residents as council bid to include PBSA in housing delivery figures weakens local planning policy – but does not remove it from decision-making altogether.

Exeter College and Petroc campuses map

Exeter College and Petroc merger set to create largest college group in South West

Colleges hold public consultation on creation of new organisation which they say would educate 16,000 students at Exeter and North Devon campuses and employ 2,000 staff with £100 million turnover.

Proposed Clarendon House student block aerial view

Proposals to replace Clarendon House with 297-bed student accommodation complex submitted for approval

Developer Zinc Real Estate arrives at final proposal for up to ten storey Paris Street roundabout redevelopment after nearly two years of informal public consultations and meetings with city councillors and officers.

Nadder Park Road application site location map

Barley Lane greenfield plans place persistent threat to Exeter’s north and north-west hills in spotlight

Council inability to identify sufficient land to meet government housing delivery targets leaves residents with faint hope of local plan policies preventing Nadder Park Road ridgeline development despite 175 public objections to scheme.

On Our Radar
Two Moors Festival musicians performing

WEDNESDAY 1 TO SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2025

Two Moors Festival

Chamber music festival celebrates 25th anniversary with performances, talks and workshops across fifteen venues.

DARTMOOR, EXMOOR & SURROUNDS

Play Interact Explore installation

SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER TO SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2025

Play Interact Explore

Theatre Alibi hosts an interactive exhibition suitable for all ages created by artists Leap then Look.

EMMANUEL HALL

Still from How the Little Mole Got His Trousers

SATURDAY 18 OCTOBER 2025

Nature’s Resources

A programme of six short animated films explores the relationship between humans and non-human species.

EXETER PHOENIX