Upgrade to a paid Exeter Observer subscription and get access to exclusive premium content and more

Upgrade to paid
NEWS

Council rejects calls for greater community involvement in Exeter planning policy and decisions

Council defends existing approach despite Statement of Community Involvement consultation producing just 17 responses, and won’t do more to promote neighbourhood planning despite prospect of enhanced community powers.

Martin Redfern

Exeter City Council has rejected calls for greater community involvement in planning policy-making and application decisions, defending its existing approach despite an eight week consultation on community involvement in planning matters producing just seventeen responses.

The consultation on the council’s new Statement of Community Involvement, a statutory document which sets out how it will involve communities, businesses and others in the preparation of planning policies as well as determining individual planning applications, took place between September and November last year.

Several organisations simply responded to clarify their status as consultees without commenting on the document itself, while others submitted responses which were not relevant.

Subscribe to The Exeter Digest - Exeter Observer's essential free email newsletter

Your personal information will be processed and stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy

Exeter Civic Society, Exeter Green Party and the Progressive Group of councillors on Exeter City Council submitted the most substantial consultation responses, between them comprising nearly two thirds of total submissions.

Each called for greater commitment to community involvement in planning decisions, describing the council’s approach as a “wholly inadequate offering” in the context of the challenges that Exeter faces and saying it should instead be “going beyond consultation to enable proper community engagement”.

The council responded by saying its approach complied with the minimum standards set out in the legislation, adding that it was “flexible” and allowed for “a range of approaches” which would be “explored further as we move forward”.

It cited its “limited resources” and “the need to make progress” on the local plan as reasons for not committing to greater community involvement, and made no changes in response to nearly three-quarters of the issues raised by the three.

It also made no changes in response to half the issues raised by the other respondents.

Despite the very low consultation response rate, several Labour councillors expressed satisfaction with the outcome at last week’s council executive meeting.

Martin Pearce said: “Lots of comments have come forward but very few of them actually require changes, which says to me that we’re already doing what the community wants us to do and not just ticking all the boxes”.

Council leader Phil Bialyk added that he is “more than satisfied with how we consult in this city”.

Exeter Statement of Community Involvement June 2022 Exeter Statement of Community Involvement June 2022

Exeter Civic Society, Exeter Green Party and the Progressive Group also all criticised the council for not being proactive in promoting neighbourhood planning, which enables local groups to create planning policy which becomes part of the wider development plan framework.

An £18,000 government grant and comprehensive free technical support is on offer to community groups that want to create neighbourhood plans.

Such plans are enabling communities around the country to prevent new housing being used as second homes or holiday lets and to block construction of Purpose Built Student Accommodation and conversion of existing residential housing stock to shared student accommodation.

The civic society pointed out that the council had not updated its neighbourhood planning protocol since 2012 and had not promoted government guidance or key neighbourhood planning resources on its website.

At last week’s executive meeting Liberal Democrat councillor Kevin Mitchell urged the council to do more to promote neighbourhood planning in Exeter and Conservative councillor Anne Jobson said the council’s Statement of Community Involvement should make clear funding is available to enable neighbourhood planning groups.

Council leader Phil Bialyk said there was no need to do more than supply links to online resources via its website, which the council has now done.

New Exeter Local Plan

The new Exeter Local Plan will replace the city’s 2012 Core Strategy and the policies saved from the 1995-2011 Exeter Local Plan First Review when it is adopted.

It is expected to facilitate the Liveable Exeter property development scheme, and the Exeter Development Fund which is intended to deliver it, by providing a scheme-focussed “vision and framework for the future development of the city”.

County mineral and waste plans also form part of Exeter’s planning policy framework, as do Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) which provide additional guidance.

Exeter’s SPDs will be reviewed in the context of emerging Exeter Local Plan policies as well as ongoing changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, but not directly as part of the new local plan process.

Neighbourhood plans, produced by local groups, also form part of planning policy frameworks. Exeter’s includes one such plan which covers the St James area.

An evidence base also supports and informs local planning policy development.

The timetable for the preparation of the new local plan is set out in the 2021 Local Development Scheme:

  • September 2021: an initial consultation framed the content and scope of the plan
  • September 2022: a resulting draft plan will be published for public consultation
  • February 2023: a revised plan will be published for formal comments on its legal compliance and soundness
  • June 2023: the resulting draft final plan will be submitted to the planning inspectorate with formal comments and supporting evidence
  • October 2023: a planning inspector will examine the submissions, hold plan examination hearings, propose any necessary changes and produce a final report
  • June 2024: the final plan will be adopted.

Only those who submit formal comments at the revised plan publication stage can take part in plan examination hearings.

However the government recently made clear that it intends to expand the role of neighbourhood planning groups in making planning policy.

It confirmed earlier this month that the planning system reforms it wants to retain from the 2020 planning white paper will be included in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.

Local authority area-wide design codes will be required to act as frameworks for detailed design codes which can be prepared for specific areas by neighbourhood planning groups.

Design codes can be used to set stringent standards, to which developers must adhere in order to get planning permission, in much greater detail than planning policy documents.

They can cover environmental and energy efficiency standards, walking and cycling infrastructure specifications, public realm requirements and usage considerations such as tenure mix among many other development delivery details.

The government also intends to introduce a more accessible local planning tool called a “neighbourhood priorities statement” to enable communities to directly influence planning policy.

It will help communities to identify priorities and preferences for their areas and provide a basis on which they can create full neighbourhood plans.

The new neighbourhood planning provisions, which will become part of the city’s planning policy framework, are expected to come into force before the new Exeter Local Plan is adopted.

They will offer communities greater involvement and enhanced powers in planning policy-making and application decisions whether the council promotes them or not.

Independent, investigative, in the public interest

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 is proving that reader-funded media can deliver the independent public interest journalism our local democracy needs.

Upgrade to a paid Exeter Observer subscription to support our work and get access to exclusive premium content and more.

Upgrade to paid

More stories
Exeter Energy heat plant indicative render north elevation

Exeter City Council disregards national planning policy and Environment Agency criticism to approve Riverside Valley Park flood zone heat plant plans

Five gas boilers to provide 80% of “low-to-zero carbon” Grace Road Fields plant generation capacity for distribution to institutional consumers through privately-run 13-mile underground network expected to take ten years to complete.

University of Exeter West Park redevelopment demolition block plan

West Park redevelopment demolitions to proceed to enable intrusive unexploded ordnance surveys before works can begin

Five year-old University of Exeter plans to provide 2,000 new student bedspaces in blocks up to nine storeys tall by demolishing up to 30 buildings on fifteen acre Streatham campus site about to take seismic step towards delivery.

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services logo

HMICFRS identifies sufficient Devon & Cornwall Police improvements to return force to routine monitoring

Inspectorate decision follows nearly three years of enhanced monitoring after force found inadequate in three of nine areas and requiring improvement in two more, but says “still work to do” in crime recording standards and investigations management.

Devon & Cornwall Police deputy chief constable Jim Colwell, previous chief constable Will Kerr and interim chief constable James Vaughan

Devon & Cornwall Police deputy chief constable Jim Colwell receives 18-month misconduct warning

Outcome of Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation delivered day before retirement of suspended chief constable Will Kerr announced, with Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez unwilling to say whether “golden handshake” agreed.

Newtown active travel scheme map

Newtown active travel scheme approved after four years of public consultations

Joint Devon County Council and Exeter City Council project includes road closure, car parking changes and contraflow Clifton Hill cycle lane.

On Our Radar
Exeter Street Arts Festival mural painting

SATURDAY 30 AUGUST 2025

Exeter Street Arts Festival 2025

The annual festival returns with street art, drumming, dance, workshops, walkabouts and live music.

EXETER CITY CENTRE

Burnet Patch Bridge spanning an eighteenth century cut in Exeter City Walls

FRIDAY 12 TO SUNDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2025

Heritage Open Days 2025

Annual festival returns with free talks, tours and exhibitions at heritage sites in and around Exeter.

EXETER CITY CENTRE

Exeter Phoenix building

FRIDAY 12 SEPTEMBER TO SATURDAY 1 NOVEMBER 2025

Exeter Contemporary Open 2025

Annual exhibition featuring fifteen contemporary visual artists from across the UK.

EXETER PHOENIX