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 has begun, 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.
