TOP STORIES
COUNTY COUNCIL DETERMINED TO AXE HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION FUNDING DESPITE ZERO SUPPORT FOR CUTS
Fate of £1.5 million contract sealed before consultation began with district councils and services providers kept in dark and huge prospective financial and human costs, dwarfing claimed savings, ignored. Full story here.
THE ROAD AHEAD FOR STAGECOACH
Exeter’s bus services remain a topic of criticism, but when buses fail to turn up it’s too simplistic to blame the bus company. An interview with Stagecoach South West managing director Peter Knight helps explain why. Full story here.
EXETER IN BRIEF
Climate activists yesterday staged the first of what they say will be weekly protests outside the Clifton Hill constituency office of EXETER MP BEN BRADSHAW. They criticised the Labour Party’s failure to adequately respond to repeated calls from young people for rapid decarbonisation, a just transition to a low emissions economy and investment in green jobs, and demanded bolder climate commitments from the party ahead of the next general election.
A 48 hour strike by consultants at the ROYAL DEVON NHS TRUST was held from 7am on Thursday 20 July to 7am today.
A joint city and county council bid for government funding to replace MALLISON BRIDGE at Exeter Quay, which was closed five years ago before being removed, has failed. Pedestrians and cyclists crossing Cricklepit Bridge are instead expected to continue sharing a narrow alleyway off Commercial Road for the foreseeable future.
Devon County Council intends to increase the speed limit along the length of EXWICK ROAD from Redhills to Station Road, and to extend the increase along St Andrew’s Road, despite criticism of its proposals during a public consultation last November. The council is justifying the changes, which would also introduce new on-road parking restrictions, on the grounds they would improve road safety and reduce congestion.
The county council has confirmed that it intends to introduce its EXETER LOCAL CYCLING & WALKING INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN, now six years late, without committing to delivery timescales, allocating any funding or expanding the proposed network in response to opposition to its plans centred on their lack of ambition. It also rejected calls to extend a 20mph speed limit across Exeter to increase cyclist and pedestrian safety.
Nicola Wheeler, currently Head of Community Programmes at Peabody, will become the new CEO of INEXETER, Exeter’s business improvement district company, in October. The company charges a 1.25% business rates levy on around 750 eligible organisations operating inside defined geographic boundaries which it primarily uses for promotional activities and events.
Exeter-based South West shared mobility provider CO-CARS, which is also responsible for CO-BIKES e-bike hire, ceased trading on 14 July. It says the suspension of its services for long periods during the pandemic, changes in travel habits and the cost of living crisis have combined with high fuel and energy costs and supply chain issues to force the company into administration. Buyers for all or part of the business will now be sought.
ON THE AGENDA
HEAVITREE AND WHIPTON ACTIVE STREETS scheme exhibitions are being held from 4-7pm on Tuesday 25 July at Park Life Heavitree and on Wednesday 26 July at Whipton Community Hall. The scheme trial will begin in August for up to eighteen months, the first six of which will be a statutory consultation period during which residents and organisations will be invited to comment on the scheme. Four modal filters and three bus gates will initially be employed with the aim of reducing vehicular neighbourhood through traffic and increasing active travel in the area, in which around 17,000 people live. Changes based on consultation responses may be made to the scheme layout during the trial, in which case a further six month statutory consultation begins.
Devon County Council is consulting until 14 August on proposals to convert a short stretch of cycle lane in NEW NORTH ROAD alongside John Lewis into a bus and cycle lane to reduce bus journey times. The new bus gate, part of the Devon Bus Service Improvement Plan, would enable around 200 buses a day to avoid travelling via Longbrook Street and York Road to reach the bus station and would also allow them to stop on Sidwell Street.
Another application to convert outbuildings and a garage to a three-bedroom house at Fernleigh Nurseries in the heart of LUDWELL VALLEY PARK has been submitted to the city council despite similar previous applications being twice rejected and dismissed at appeal.
A contractor has applied on behalf of the city council for permission to rebuild and reinforce a section of ANCIENT CITY WALL on Bartholomew Street East beside the City Gate Hotel that collapsed in 2019.
Devon County Council is holding a second consultation until 26 July on proposals it says will “improve facilities for active travel” in ALPHINGTON VILLAGE between the Alphin Brook roundabout and the double mini roundabout at the Shillingford Road turn. It follows another consultation that ended in January last year on similar “enhancements” which it claims will mitigate the impact of traffic from 2,500 new homes planned as part of the South West Exeter extension.
ON OUR RADAR
TO SATURDAY 29 JULY // MAKETANK
Ten contemporary artists from the Sapphire Blue Collective present an exhibition of their work: Radiance, Rubrics and Rituals: So We Are Held. More info here.
TUESDAY 25 JULY // EXETER PHOENIX
Food on Film presents Meat the Future, a documentary about sustainably cultured meat by director Liz Marshall followed by a panel discussion. More info here.
SATURDAY 5 AUGUST // EXETER PHOENIX
Phonic Fest 2023: Exeter Phoenix is hosting a day of live music from local artists plus DJs to raise money for Phonic FM, Exeter’s community radio station. More info here.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
£1 MILLION LEISURE SERVICES OVERSPEND FUELS £3.2 MILLION CITY COUNCIL DEFICIT
2022-23 budget review confirms £2.2 million annual leisure subsidy to continue with St Sidwell’s Point expected to make a loss for at least five years while another £22 million to be spent on Exeter City Living Vaughan Road development. Full story here.
COMPULSORY PURCHASE OF FLATS AND DISPOSAL OF COUNCIL LAND TO ENABLE WATER LANE DEVELOPMENT SITE ACCESS
Exeter City Council to use powers to provide developer with land for new highways layout at gateway to proposed low-traffic neighbourhood. Full story here.
