NEWS

Exeter In Brief - March 2023

Keeping you in touch with local news that matters.

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EXETER CITY COUNCIL has postponed a major review of its governance – which was already six months late – for the sixth time, and now won’t address the issues it raises until the end of July.

EXETER PRIDE has cancelled this year’s LGBTQ+ celebration, which was scheduled for 13 May, due to a lack of volunteer co-ordinators and stewards to enable the event to go ahead safely.

EXETER CITY COUNCIL has sold former the Pyramids swimming pool site to The Guinness Partnership, which also owns the adjacent Eaton Drive/Eaton House complex, for redevelopment.

A MET OFFICE survey which asked a representative sample of the public about climate crisis action has found that 65% of respondents think we should be doing more to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

The conversion of BEAUFORT HOUSE, a 3,000m2 five storey office block on New North Road, to a 107-bed student accommodation facility has been approved by the city council.

The INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE has published its Sixth Assessment synthesis report, bringing together its three previous working group reports to deliver a “final warning” as the world approaches irrevocable damage caused by rising greenhouse gas emissions which can only be averted with deep emissions cuts.

Meanwhile council-run VISIT EXETER is promoting tourist visits to Exeter by plane from Scotland to Exeter Airport. Its greenhouse gas emissions inventory excludes aviation emissions from the city’s carbon footprint.

The consulation on the draft DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Exeter, which is already nearly six years late, closes at the end of March.

EXETER CITY COUNCIL has lost an appeal against its decision that an additional bedroom in a student house in Devonshire Place was unlawful. Seven students have occupied the house, which costs more than £6,000 per month to rent, since 2020.

The government has granted outline approval for a DEVON DEVOLUTION DEAL which could give new housing and transport powers to local councils across the county without changing its existing patchwork of first and second tier and unitary authorities or requiring an elected mayor. Devon’s local authorities will now prepare a business case for its proposals, which would require the consent of all the county’s councils as well as parliamentary approval before taking effect.

Details of a new INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY to replace the section 106 agreements and community infrastructure levy charges that are currently imposed on most new development have been published by the government and are out for consultation. It would give local councils new powers to integrate affordable housing and infrastructure such as roads, schools and GP surgeries in development plans and facilitate the local capture of land value increases. The changes, which are being introduced in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill but will take ten years to implement, would also require councils to engage with communities to create new infrastructure delivery strategies.

A public exhibition of revised redevelopment plans for the WATER LANE area is being held at Haven Banks Outdoor Education Centre from 10am-7pm on Friday 24 March and from 10am-4pm on Saturday 25 March. Around 1,000 high density housing units, including student accommodation and built to rent flats, are expected on the brownfield site. The information on display will also be available on the developer’s website.

The refurbishment of PATERNOSTER HOUSE at the corner of Fore Street and North Street is apparently about to begin, just one month before planning permission to convert the former department store into flats expires. Property developer Grenadier, part of the Oxygen House group of companies which is also responsible for Exeter City Futures, does not expect the project to be complete until the end of 2024.

Bindu Arjoon has been appointed as EXETER CITY COUNCIL CEO following the sudden termination of her predecessor Karime Hassan’s employment just before Christmas. Currently interim CEO, she was previously deputy CEO and was appointed after an internal selection process.

Plans to redevelop the derelict COWLEY BRIDGE ROAD Johnsons cleaners site to provide a total of 350 beds of student accommodation in four blocks up to six storeys tall have been submitted for approval by the city council. The laundry facility was badly damaged by fire three years ago and was demolished last year.

EAST DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL has granted outline planning permission for a development of 1,035 low density residential dwellings alongside the old A30. “Treasbeare garden village” will extend Cranbrook southwards across 91 hectares of largely agricultural land towards Exeter Airport, and is expected to take ten years to complete.

A public consultation on a DEVON, CORNWALL & ISLES OF SCILLY CLIMATE ADAPTATION PLAN which will attempt to minimise the impact of climate change on the South West peninsula will be held from 8 May before a final version is adopted during the autumn, four and a half years after Devon County Council convened the Devon Climate Emergency Response Group to “act now to tackle [the] climate emergency”.

Liberal Democrat councillor Kevin Mitchell has been nominated to become Exeter’s next LORD MAYOR with the Green Party’s Tess Read as his deputy. Their appointment is expected at the council’s annual meeting on 16 May.

Exeter City Council has decided to sell Grade II listed WEIRFIELD HOUSE in Larkbeare Road above the Port Royal public house on the open market. It has been used for temporary accommodation since the 1980s and requires extensive renovation.



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SEND deficit deal demands £50m budget cuts, £13m asset sales and use of £20m financial reserves

Devon & Torbay Combined County Authority governance structure diagram

Devon devolution deal to create unaccountable local government layer for paltry £16 million payoff

Exeter St Thomas station

Access for all? Mobility-impaired passengers still cannot catch their train from some Exeter stations

Wonford Community Wellbeing Hub option seven plan crop

£1+ million for Wonford community hub project development but £7 million build finance not yet found

Proposed Heavitree Road bus lane bus priority signals

Bus corridor consultation presents more incremental changes to Exeter road network

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Secretary of State overturns council decision to waive Southgate site Environmental Impact Assessment

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Devon County Council SEND spending 2019-20 to 2024-25 bar chart

NEWS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

SEND deficit deal demands £50m budget cuts, £13m asset sales and use of £20m financial reserves

Department for Education to contribute £95 million over nine years, but terms of deal require Devon County Council to break even on SEND within two years despite five years of multi-million pound overspends.

Devon & Torbay Combined County Authority governance structure diagram

COMMENT  ⁄  DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE

Devon devolution deal to create unaccountable local government layer for paltry £16 million payoff

Democratic deficit to increase as city and district councils lose control over housing and prosperity funding and transport policy powers moved out of reach, while county council plans to approve deal irrespective of public consultation outcome.

Exeter St Thomas station

COMMENT  ⁄  TRANSPORT & MOBILITY

Access for all? Mobility-impaired passengers still cannot catch their train from some Exeter stations

National railway accessibility policies fail to deliver local transport network access as Exeter St Thomas station improvement funding bid decision awaited.

Wonford Community Wellbeing Hub option seven plan crop

ANALYSIS  ⁄  COMMUNITY & SOCIETY

£1+ million for Wonford community hub project development but £7 million build finance not yet found

City council presented £750,000 'feasibility proposal' as progression of existing plans despite having to start again after three years to cut costs, with Exeter City Living awarded £550,000 project contract.

Proposed Heavitree Road bus lane bus priority signals

NEWS  ⁄  TRANSPORT & MOBILITY

Bus corridor consultation presents more incremental changes to Exeter road network

£2.4 million Heavitree and Pinhoe Road 'upgrades' have 'potential for an approximate four-minute journey time saving' at peak times along length of each corridor.

Southgate development site heritage map

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Secretary of State overturns council decision to waive Southgate site Environmental Impact Assessment

Proposals for up to 200 flats in high-rise tower blocks have potentially significant impacts on Exe Estuary avian flightpaths, Exeter Cathedral skyline, listed buildings and ancient city walls placing protected landscapes and heritage assets at risk.

On Our Radar
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Devon County Council 2023-24 vs 2024-25 service delivery budgets bar graph

ANALYSIS  ⁄  DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE

£50 million county council 2024-25 service delivery cuts concealed by £93 million costs increases

Figures essentially unaffected by budget scrutiny process during which councillors sought details of where and how cuts would fall but received few proper answers.

Stagecoach subsidiary operating companies 2022-23 pre-tax profits bar chart

ANALYSIS  ⁄  TRANSPORT & MOBILITY

Stagecoach South West posts largest losses in sector despite greatest growth in journey numbers

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Liveable Exeter Placemaking Charter cover image

ANALYSIS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Liveable Exeter Placemaking Charter consultation skewed towards only one of five 'core tools'

Private developers' forum and other major components of new charter not mentioned in council communications, but transparency and new 'culture of openness' to 'help build trust in the planning system' emphasised throughout.

Empty studios at The Gorge

COMMENT  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

The Gorge stands 70% empty nearly six months after opening as mounting council tax liability looms

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Spruce Close & Celia Crescent development aerial view

NEWS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

City council approves plans for controversial greenfield site housing

Key details remain unresolved including future ownership and management of green space and public access restrictions during construction period.

Longbrook Street student accommodation block illustrative elevation

ANALYSIS  ⁄  PLANNING & PLACE

Top to bottom King Billy student block redesign waved through as minor variation to consented plans

Council throws out Design Review Panel interventions and reneges on commitment to planning committee while developers claim unauthorised destruction of protected medieval wall justified on safety grounds.

Spotlight
Southgate development site heritage map

Secretary of State overturns council decision to waive Southgate site Environmental Impact Assessment

Proposals for up to 200 flats in high-rise tower blocks have potentially significant impacts on Exe Estuary avian flightpaths, Exeter Cathedral skyline, listed buildings and ancient city walls placing protected landscapes and heritage assets at risk.

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