Welcome to The Exeter Digest. Thanks for subscribing. Please feel free to reply to this email or get in touch with any comments or suggestions you may have.
NEWS
FIRST EXETER “CO-LIVING” BLOCK COMES ON STREAM WITH ROOMS AT £946PCM+
Even “affordable” rooms in six storey 133-unit Gladstone Road block would leave many local key workers living below minimum income threshold.
COUNCIL PAVES WAY FOR 186-BED “CO-LIVING” BLOCK IN SUMMERLAND STREET
Freedom of information request reveals intended scale of development after executive committee takes decision behind closed doors.
COMMENT
WORLD CAR FREE DAY IGNORED IN EXETER AS EXTINCTION REBELLION CHALLENGES COUNCIL CLIMATE INACTION
Protestors gathered outside council offices as CEO Karime Hassan posed for photo with construction company development manager at Princesshay promotion.
ON THE AGENDA
NEW EXETER LOCAL PLAN
An eight-week consultation on the outline draft version of the new Exeter local plan, which will guide development in the city until 2040, begins on Monday 26 September.
ON OUR RADAR
SATURDAY 24 SEPTEMBER // KIDICAL MASS
Kidical Mass Exeter is holding its third family bike ride and picnic as part of an ongoing campaign for safe cycling routes for children, young people and families.
WEDNESDAY 28 SEPTEMBER // MOTHER TONGUE
Mothers Who Make and Spork! present a lunchtime spoken word event for mother artists and audiences with caring roles.
FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER AND SATURDAY 1 OCTOBER // POP-UP CURIOSITY SHOP
Agile Rabbit is hosting a two day science and culture-themed event featuring music, live art, interactive exhibits and games, talks and workshops.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
COMMENT
EXETER DEVELOPMENT FUND: RENT EXTRACTION, UNAFFORDABLE HOUSING AND GENTRIFICATION, BUT NOT NET ZERO
Exeter City Futures’ private debt-driven Liveable Exeter property development financing scheme is under fire from councillors who say it is based on insufficiently-evidenced assumptions and won’t meet Exeter’s housing needs.
EXETER CYCLING & WALKING STRATEGY FIVE YEARS LATE AND COUNTING
County council soft-pedalling on infrastructure plan which city council says will not form part of new Exeter Local Plan despite Department for Transport guidance.
PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT PROMOTION AS COMMUNITY PLANNING PARTICIPATION
If the Liveable Exeter property development scheme and its Exeter Development Fund financing and delivery vehicle are already intended to “anchor and underpin” the new Exeter Local Plan, what will public consultation on the plan decide?
NEWS & ANALYSIS
ST. JAMES HMO CONVERSION REFUSAL OVERTURNED AT APPEAL
Council failed to provide sufficient evidence to support 2012 planning policy introduced to limit impact of student occupation of residential housing stock.
BUS BACK BETTER? EXETER SERVICES EXPECTED TO REMAIN UNFIT FOR PURPOSE WITHOUT NEEDED CHANGES
Government underfunding and bus sector challenges limit scope for improvement but county council failure to upgrade routes and policy ambitions plus high housing costs make Exeter difficulties acute, undermining net zero aspirations.
PROGRESSIVE GROUP PLANNING ENFORCEMENT PROPOSAL ADOPTED DESPITE PUBLIC LABOUR REJECTION
Newly-published register also reveals council has issued as many planning enforcement notices in the past three months as it has in the past three years.
UNIVERSITY EMISSIONS STUDY CONFIRMS NET ZERO EXETER PLAN REDUNDANCY
Council retains Exeter City Futures’ services despite history of delivery failures and lack of capacity to support defined decarbonisation targets.
EXETER GREENHOUSE GAS REPORT DISREGARDS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TONNES OF ANNUAL CITY EMISSIONS
Restricted scope of study misrepresents scale of city’s impact to produce partial decarbonisation targets while ignoring opportunities to reduce emissions imported by residents, businesses and visitors, guaranteeing net zero failure.
SUPPORT OUR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
There are lots of ways you can help Exeter Observer to thrive:
Share this newsletter with your friends and family and encourage them to subscribe free.
Follow @exeterobserver on Twitter, where you can share and comment on our stories.
Join our team. We are always happy to hear from experienced writers or photographers.
Donate. Every contribution helps sustain our public interest reporting.
Support our work. It is our supporters who enable us to hold wealth, power and the influence of individuals and institutions to account in the public sphere.
