Exeter City Council scraps own “unachievable” carbon emissions target
Martin Redfern
In an extraordinary reversal, the city council removed the goal of achieving carbon neutral operations by 2022 from its corporate risk register at an Audit & Governance committee meeting last week.
So what was it doing on the risk register, where it’s been since November 2019? It seems the council has been confusing energy policy with decarbonisation.
Let’s hope the planned “net zero delivery team” won’t be prone to such schoolboy errors when it finally comes on stream in March next year.
By then it will have been more than three years since the council declared a climate emergency: let’s hope the team comes equipped with a dictionary, too.
Good journalism costs money
The only way to cover the cost of producing and publishing independent public interest journalism is by readers helping to pay for it.
Each of Exeter Observer's paying subscribers keeps us up and running for one day each year by chipping in less than £2/week.
Our members contribute more towards our running costs and get more in return.
128 of the 300 readers we need as paying subscribers have signed up so far, which keeps us going until the middle of May each year.
If you think Exeter needs this kind of journalism then help us cover our costs all year round by joining them today.
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 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.
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.
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.
Pre-application feedback sought on proposals for six storey Summerland Street student accommodation block
Redevelopment of Unit 1 nightclub and Best Tyre Auto Centre in Verney Street would add 180 beds to 1,575 student bedspaces in immediate area on top of 145 studios in consented but unbuilt Summerland Street “co-living” block.
, updated
McCarthy Stone set to build 36 retirement flats on Heavitree school playing field
Proposals prompting concerns about loss of green space and adverse impact on historic character of conservation area follow redevelopment of former Bramdean School in Homefield Road.
On Our Radar
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
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
SATURDAY 18 OCTOBER 2025
Nature’s Resources
A programme of six short animated films explores the relationship between humans and non-human species.
