TOP STORIES
COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT LEVY CHANGES ARE INSUFFICIENTLY EVIDENCED AND DON’T MEET CITY INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS
Exeter City Council and Liveable Exeter partners impose faulty typology driven by policy objectives while ignoring new local plan, evidence base and statutory funding statement and excluding residential and retail charges from review.
30,000 STUDENTS BASED AT EXETER UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES IN 2022-23
Freedom of information request reveals significant drop on last year with postgraduate students accounting for 58% of fall in numbers.
UNDERPERFORMING COUNTY COUNCIL CHILDREN’S SERVICES TO RECEIVE NEARLY HALF OF PROPOSED SPENDING INCREASES
Details of simultaneous £50 million 2023-24 spending reductions not yet published as finance director cites service delivery “re-prioritisation”.
EXETER IN BRIEF
A selection from our new home page section keeping you up to speed with local news that matters:
EXETER CHIEFS rugby club has reintroduced its offensive “tomahawk chop” chant during games at Sandy Park, where it is being played over the PA system, despite seeking to rehabilitate its reputation after a long-running controversy over its misappropriation of indigenous and Native American imagery.
Meanwhile the club’s application to EXETER CITY COUNCIL to vary the stadium’s license to enable it to become a music venue as well as host to boxing, wrestling, theatre and films is to be decided at a meeting on Monday 30 January.
The UNIVERSITY OF EXETER has submitted detailed plans for its 1,700 bed West Park redevelopment of 50,000m2 of student accommodation. They include ten storey blocks which are two storeys taller than agreed when outline permission was granted in May 2021.
EXETER CITY COUNCIL has again breached local government transparency legislation by failing to give required notice of its intention to hold an Executive meeting in private.
Contractors have pulled out of controversial Gladstone Road co-living block THE GORGE, leaving works stalled.
Devon LEVELLING-UP round two funding has been announced, with Exmouth Gateway and a maritime research centre in Appledore to receive £16 million each and £13.5 million for a new railway station on the eastern edge of Okehampton to be called Okehampton Parkway.
EXETER CITY COUNCIL has collected thousands of council tax payments that were due on 25 January nine days early. It has refunded the payments and confirmed it will reimburse those who have incurred bank charges as a result of its error on application.
EXETER CITY COUNCIL has cancelled a planning committee meeting that was expected to approve controversial developments including 350 dwellings at St Bridget horticulture nursery on Old Rydon Lane and a 26-bed student accommodation block on Howell Road after failing to inform objectors that the meeting was taking place.
DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL approved revised proposals to make active travel infrastructure in Queen Street permanent at a meeting on 16 January. They include a reduction in footway width and increase in carriageway width, compared with previous proposals, to enable the reintroduction of two-way motor traffic. The revised scheme does not provide any cycling infrastructure but does include a new loading bay which will be set into the pavement.
The same meeting approved a 700-metre £1.55 million cycling infrastructure scheme on Rifford Road. It will not impede motor vehicle movement but will entail the removal of sixteen parking spaces.
LIBRARIES UNLIMITED has become the latest local organisation to launch a lottery in order to raise funds for public service delivery.
EXETER CITY LIVING is consulting on proposals to redevelop the Exe Water Sports Association site at the head of Exeter Ship Canal, which includes the Ride On headquarters and the boat yard. Responses are invited until 27 January.
Proposals to convert a 3,000m2 five storey office block on New North Road known as BEAUFORT HOUSE to a 107-bed student accommodation facility have been submitted to the city council for approval.
ON OUR RADAR
MONDAY 13 FEBRUARY // EXETER LIBRARY
PRISM Exeter’s speaker series continues with LGBTQIA+ people sharing their experiences working in STEMM as part of this year’s LGBT+ History Month.
FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY // EXETER CLIMATE ACTION HUB
A free screening of The Oil Machine followed by a panel discussion with Dr James Dyke and Professor Tim Lenton of the University of Exeter Global Systems Institute.
SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY // MAKETANK
Exeter Seed Bank’s first seed swap also features talks on composting, fermentation and reducing kitchen waste with stalls, displays and activities.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
IS THE GRASS REALLY GREENER IN EXETER CITY CENTRE?
Academic research placing Exeter retail area at top of green space table was nationally reported, locally misrepresented then repurposed as booster fuel by local politicians overlooking study’s social justice focus.
COUNCIL LOTTERY OPERATOR TO TAKE CUT FROM LOCAL CHARITABLE DONATIONS
Decision to promote gambling as “incentivised giving” plays down risks without assessing potential impacts or evidencing claimed benefits, disrupting relationships between community and voluntary sector organisations and supporters.
EXETER CITY FUTURES FALSELY CLAIMS DEVELOPMENT FUND DOCUMENTS DISCLOSED UNDER FOI LEGISLATION
Senior council director puts company on collision course with Information Commissioner’s Office as significant governance failings emerge after councillors and public kept in dark over Liveable Exeter financing scheme proposals.
SOUTH WEST WATER PERFORMANCE REMAINS AMONG WORST IN SECTOR AS IT FALLS FURTHER BEHIND TARGETS
Regulator highlights “sustained poor performance” after serious pollution incidents nearly triple and Environment Agency condemns company in annual assessment.
EXETER CITY LIVING PUT COUNCIL AT “SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL RISK” AFTER £2.2 MILLION LOSS IN FIRST TWO YEARS
Missing business plan, lack of transparency and conflicts of interest among senior council directors prompt board resignations and governance review at council-owned and funded company.
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER LAGS BEHIND ON FEMALE PAY AND EMPLOYMENT TERMS
HESA figures show poor performance compared with Universities UK members and only incremental changes over past five years, mostly since staff began industrial action over pay, pensions and working conditions.
