THE EXETER DIGEST

Exeter Digest #23: Devon children’s services failings - Exeter empty and second homes

Get up to speed with our new Exeter In Brief coverage, find out about ongoing local consultations and get ready to celebrate Phonic FM’s 15th birthday.

TOP STORIES

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL CHARGED WITH “RELENTLESS INSTITUTIONAL FAILINGS” IN SEND CHILDREN’S SERVICES PROVISION

Children with special educational needs and disabilities protest alongside parents at County Hall as Ofsted monitoring continues to find serious unresolved issues and key areas that require significant change.

EXETER HAS MORE EMPTY AND SECOND HOMES THAN BUILT IN CITY IN PAST TWO YEARS

Council tax premium proposals that aim to raise additional revenue from underused housing stock might also encourage return to residential occupancy.

EXETER IN BRIEF

The latest from our new home page section keeping you up to speed with local news that matters:

The budget for the EXETER CITY LIVING Vaughan Road redevelopment has soared from £9.2 million to £27.2 million, with the council now expected to lend an additional £13 million to its development company to complete what will now be a mix of 35 affordable and 56 market rent flats, 25 fewer affordable homes than planned.

The UNIVERSITY OF EXETER has twice refused to identify the members of its community engagement panel or residents liaison group under Freedom of Information legislation and is being referred to the Information Commissioner for failing to do so.

EXETER CITY COUNCIL has approved plans to replace Buckerell Lodge with a retirement home, deferred a decision on a development of 350 dwellings at St Bridget horticulture nursery on Old Rydon Lane and refused a 26-bed student accommodation block on Howell Road.

EXETER LABOUR proposals to spend £100,000 on a splash pool in St Thomas, a marginal ward in which the council’s deputy leader nearly lost her seat at last year’s local elections, has led city council news coverage of a budget which cuts more than £3 million of public spending.

EXETER CITY COUNCIL has approved the use of Exeter Chiefs’ Sandy Park stadium as a venue for boxing, wrestling, theatre, film and music events.

Royal College of Nursing staff at the ROYAL DEVON NHS TRUST have resumed strike action alongside South Western Ambulance Service workers as healthcare professionals across the country stage the biggest strike in NHS history.

Detailed plans for the Honiton Road MOOR EXCHANGE RETAIL PARK have been submitted for approval. Outline planning permission for the development was granted two years ago.

The police inspectorate says DEVON AND CORNWALL POLICE must make urgent improvements after it was found to be inadequate in three of nine areas including responding to emergency and non-emergency calls and managing registered sexual and violent offenders.

Its assessment found two other areas required improvement while two more were graded “good”. A new chief constable was appointed in December after the force was placed under enhanced inspectorate monitoring last year.

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER staff have resumed strike action over pay, pensions and working conditions alongside Exeter school teaching staff with dozens more strike days planned during February and March.

EAST DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL has granted planning permission for 44 new dwellings and 6,000m2 of new office space beside Exeter Science Park.

EXETER CITY FUTURES published the agenda for its last board meeting on 30 January, two months after the meeting was held. It says it is “committed to being completely transparent and open about the things that are discussed at board meetings”. No minutes were included.

New figures show that 2.2 million people used EXETER CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION in the year to March 2022, making it the 155th busiest of 2,569 UK railway stations and (slightly) busier than Exeter St David’s.

The opening of MARSH BARTON RAILWAY STATION has been delayed yet again, to “this spring”, putting project completion more than six years behind schedule.

More Exeter In Brief here.

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ON THE AGENDA

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL is consulting on its draft proposals for adult social care provision until 19 March.

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL is also consulting on its draft Exeter Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, which is already nearly six years late, until the end of March.

Public exhibitions take place from 11am-7pm on 14-15 February and 15-16 March at County Hall.

ON OUR RADAR

FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY // EXETER CLIMATE ACTION HUB

A free screening of The Oil Machine followed by a panel discussion led by Dr James Dyke of the University of Exeter Global Systems Institute.

SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY // EXETER PHOENIX

Phonic FM, Exeter’s community radio station, celebrates fifteen years of broadcasting with an evening of live music and DJs.

TUESDAY 14 MARCH // ST NICHOLAS PRIORY

An evening talk, The Forgotten Quarter, explores the Mint Lane area between the first and second world wars.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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”.

More stories
2024-25 Devon County Council locality budget community grants allocations by Exeter councillor

Heavitree & Whipton Barton community groups miss out on £14,600 after Danny Barnes fails to sign funding agreements

Voluntary sector grants now lost following 12% councillor attendance record highlighting need for by-elections in absentee cases.

Suspended Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable Will Kerr

Criminal investigation into suspended Devon & Cornwall Police Chief Constable dropped

Will Kerr to remain suspended while IOPC resumes previously paused conduct investigation and interim chief constable James Vaughan continues to lead force.

2024 duration in hours of monitored spill events at water company overflow sites bar graph

South West Water bills rise by a third following worst performance in sector with 550,000 hours of sewage spills

Tariffs increase as Environment Agency publishes damning data after South West Water owner Pennon Group issues £24.5 million in dividends to shareholders.

Devon & Torbay Combined County Authority inaugural meeting 19 March 2025

Devon & Torbay CCA sets sail for regional democratic deficit with £500,000 crew

Combined county authority throws public accountability overboard as future regional strategic governance body ratifies constitution at inaugural meeting but fails to explain why so many staff needed to deliver so little at such colossal cost.

Exeter Post Office in Guildhall Shopping Centre WHSmith

Sidwell Street Post Office to close as WHSmith shops sale raises risk of Exeter city centre counter service disappearance

Closure follows loss of Exeter’s last Crown Post Office in Bedford Street, since when all city branches operated by franchisees or independent businesses.

Exeter local elections campaign materials

Help hold Devon’s political parties and politicians to account during the 2025 local elections

Send us any campaign materials you receive so we can fact-check candidates’ claims and hold them to their pledges after the votes have been counted.

On Our Radar
Jess Hughes Cameron and Chin See at 2024 Topsham Music Festival

FRIDAY 25 TO SUNDAY 27 APRIL 2025

2025 Topsham Music Festival

Three day event features jazz, percussion and classical music played by young professional musicians from across the country.

TOPSHAM

Tabatha Andrews sculpture

SATURDAY 26 APRIL TO SATURDAY 21 JUNE 2025

The Slightest Gesture

Sculptor and installation artist Tabatha Andrews presents a new immersive exhibition.

EXETER PHOENIX

Liberation in Venice 1945

SUNDAY 27 APRIL 2025

Festa Di Liberazione

Italian Cultural Association Exeter hosts a day of music, dance, poetry and Italian culture.

KALEIDER

Edward Tripp

TUESDAY 29 APRIL 2025

City Slam 2025

Exeter City of Literature, Taking the Mic and Spork! co-host a third city-wide spoken-word poetry competition.

EXETER PHOENIX

Exeter Pride in Exeter High Street

SATURDAY 10 MAY 2025

Exeter Pride 2025

Exeter Pride returns for a celebration of LGBTQ+ diversity with a parade, marketplace, music, cabaret and more.

NORTHERNHAY GARDENS

Detail from Panorama of Prague from the Schönborn Garden

SATURDAY 10 MAY 2025

Czech Classics

Isca Ensemble and chorus perform a programme by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.

EXETER CATHEDRAL