THE EXETER DIGEST

Exeter Digest #22: Community infrastructure levy review - Student numbers - County council spending

The first edition of 2023 also introduces our new Exeter In Brief section and trails PRISM Exeter LGBTQIA+ speakers, a free documentary film screening and Exeter's first seed swap.

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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.

More Exeter In Brief here.

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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.


Recent headlines
Recent headlines
St Petrocks homelessness charity Christmas appeal 2023

St Petrock's Christmas appeal to raise funds to support its work with rough sleepers

Exeter area bus services trends map

Exeter bus services cut by nearly 42% since 2010, largest fall in area

University of Exeter St Luke's campus boundary aerial view

University seeks views on St Luke's campus redevelopment

Clifton Hill sports centre development site

Clifton Hill sports centre site - with adjacent green space - and Mary Arches car park set for sale for PBSA

Sandy Park stadium

City council gives Exeter Chiefs permission to hold Sandy Park concerts with 15,500 attendees

Recent stories
St Petrocks homelessness charity Christmas appeal 2023

NEWS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

St Petrock's Christmas appeal to raise funds to support its work with rough sleepers

Exeter homelessness charity's fundraising campaign features short film exploring how it feels to be homeless.

Exeter area bus services trends map

NEWS  ⁄  TRANSPORT & MOBILITY

Exeter bus services cut by nearly 42% since 2010, largest fall in area

Many of worst-affected neighbourhoods in areas where major developments planned or being built, some in Heavitree & Whipton Active Streets trial area.

University of Exeter St Luke's campus boundary aerial view

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

University seeks views on St Luke's campus redevelopment

Eleven acre teaching and research site between Heavitree Road and Magdalen Road to become 'health and wellbeing' campus and may include student accommodation.

Clifton Hill sports centre development site

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Clifton Hill sports centre site - with adjacent green space - and Mary Arches car park set for sale for PBSA

Reversal of policy to prohibit Purpose Built Student Accommodation on city council land proposed to cover expected £9 million outstanding Exeter City Living debt, with £800,000 budget proposed for site disposal costs.

Sandy Park stadium

NEWS  ⁄  ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE

City council gives Exeter Chiefs permission to hold Sandy Park concerts with 15,500 attendees

Permanent consent for six weekend events between 1 May and 15 July each year with amplified music to 10.30pm follows four trial concerts with audiences of just 3,500.

On Our Radar
More stories
Illustrative elevations facing Cowley Bridge Road

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

City council approves Cowley Bridge Road student blocks on former Johnsons site

350 bedspaces in four blocks up to six storeys tall to be built on windfall site left vacant after 2020 fire at former laundry and workwear factory.

University of Exeter social mobility awards graphic

ANALYSIS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

University of Exeter promotes social mobility 'silver awards' after being ranked 92nd in HEPI index

Higher Education Policy Institute social mobility ranking follows landmark study placing university 103rd in higher education social mobility league table, while South West young people are least likely to attend university in the country.

Exeter housing

ANALYSIS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

Exeter has 3,100 vacant and empty second homes, nearly 6% of city's housing stock

ONS also finds South West has 183,000 unoccupied dwellings with another 200,000 in use as second homes in the region, of which more than 4,000 are in Exeter, as statutory homelessness increases and rough sleeping doubles in city.

JCDecaux illuminated street advertising screen

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Planning inspectors uphold decisions to refuse illuminated city centre advertising screens

Appeal dismissals conclude JCDecaux 'multifunction hubs' would materially harm character, appearance and visual amenity and have 'very limited' benefits in Sidwell Street, Paris Street and South Street with High Street hub decision to follow.

Seabrook Orchards phase three illustration

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Seabrook Orchards development plans submitted one house short of key planning condition threshold

Residents group says Bloor Homes application does not address pedestrian and cycle connectivity and is 'seeking to actively avoid delivery' of agreed transport infrastructure.

Maketank window display

NEWS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

Maketank community arts centre closes after more than four years at the heart of Exeter cultural life

Crown Estate unwilling to renew lease after problems with roof preclude repairs in block scheduled for demolition as part of CityPoint redevelopment.

Spotlight
New Exeter local plan graphic

City council holds consultation on full draft of new Exeter Local Plan, set to guide development to 2040

Second major consultation begins as government introduces sweeping national planning system reforms including transfer of powers to Whitehall and changes to scope of local plans and local plan-making processes.

, updated

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