NEWS

Heavitree Road police station and magistrates court redevelopment appeal dismissed

Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner and offshore development partner sent back to drawing board after attempt to overturn city council decision to refuse two huge student/co-living blocks fails.

Martin Redfern

Exeter City Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for a student and co-living development on the site of the former police station and magistrates court in Heavitree Road has been upheld by a planning inspector at appeal.

The application for outline planning permission (with all matters considered in detail except landscaping) was eventually refused in February last year after eight design iterations, six council meetings and four rounds of public consultation had considered it over the course of nearly three years.

The development had been enthusiastically recommended by city council development director Ian Collinson who said its extreme residential densities would align with the council’s Liveable Exeter vision.

However local councillors and residents objected to the scheme for a wide range of reasons. These included the adverse impact of its scale, mass and siting, the insufficient residential amenity space it provided, the harm it would do to the surrounding area and the loss of 26 trees on the site.

Illustrative elevation of proposed development facing St Luke's campus Illustrative elevation of proposed development facing St Luke’s campus

Joint developers the office of the Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner and offshore-registered PBSA Heavitree Road S.A.R.L. sought to overturn the decision at appeal in September last year. A five-day hearing took place just before Christmas.

Amended plans submitted before the appeal clarified that the total number of units proposed in the development after further changes were made to the building designs was 955, nine fewer than the 964 units that had been refused.

The council and the appellants reached agreement over a range of issues relating to the development both before and during the hearing.

As a result, the inspector’s decision focussed on its prospective impact on the character and appearance of the area, including on St Luke’s College buildings on the university campus opposite, and on the privacy and outlook of neighbouring residents in Higher Summerlands to the west.

Illustrative aerial view of proposed development from south east Illustrative aerial view of proposed development from south east

The inspector said the proposed buildings would appear as “vastly larger than any other nearby building”, including The Gorge, the neighbouring block described as “student accommodation”, and “would be of immense proportions compared to anything surrounding them”.

The inspector added that while the council seeks what it calls “transformational change” on the development site, this phrase can be interpreted in several ways, and that “it would be perverse for that interpretation to mean introducing a development at odds with its context as that approach would not accord with the principles of good design required by local and national planning policy”.

He also said the proposal “goes beyond what is acceptable in terms of the density, grain and overall character of its surroundings” and would be “unacceptably strident” in a predominantly suburban residential area, although he found it would not be harmful to the historic significance of the St Luke’s College building opposite.

He added that the development site’s distance from Heavitree Road roundabout suggested that the claim that the scheme would create a gateway to Exeter city centre would be “a gateway in the wrong place”.

The inspector nevertheless found that the outlook and privacy for residents in Higher Summerlands would not be materially different as a result of the scheme, partly because their main focus is away from the development site towards their larger rear gardens and street access.

Development site boundary beside Higher Summerlands residential housing Development site boundary beside Higher Summerlands residential housing

Significant changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to which planning decisions must adhere were made immediately after the appeal hearing concluded, which meant that the council no longer had to demonstrate a supply of specific development sites that are sufficient to meet government-set housing delivery targets for the following five years.

The reduced requirement for four years’ housing land supply, and the council’s current ability to demonstrate it, means that planning decisions in the city are now not skewed favour of approval as they had been for several years.

The inspector said that this reduced requirement does not diminish the value of development proposals that provide new housing, particularly as housing delivery targets are, in any case, a minimum.

However he concluded that, these potential benefits notwithstanding, the scheme would be “overly-assertive and incongruous”, would “cross the line of acceptability in terms of its effects on the local area” and would cause harm to the area’s character and appearance that would be “severe”.


Democracy doesn't work when people don't know who is deciding what on whose behalf and what the costs and consequences of those decisions will be.

Exeter Observer is proving that reader-funded media can deliver the independent public interest journalism our local democracy needs.

Upgrade to a paid Exeter Observer subscription to support our work and get access to exclusive premium content and more.

More stories
Northbrook swimming pool

City council holds sham Northbrook swimming pool closure consultation

£600,000 Exeter Leisure services budget cut signed off two weeks before pool consultation opened as St Sidwell’s Point drains other council leisure sites.

Met Office building at Exeter Science Park

Met Office to sell Exeter Science Park supercomputer and office buildings

Disposal motivated by replacement of nine year-old supercomputer with £1.2 billion government-funded off-site Microsoft facility.

St Petrock's outreach workers with a rough sleeper

Annual city council rough sleeper count “consistently underestimates” extent of Exeter rough sleeping

Homelessness charity St Petrock’s calls on council to change count methodology which identifies fewer rough sleepers than those known by outreach workers and reflected in government figures.

Devon County Council budget meeting 20 February 2025

Devon County Council reveals perilous financial state with SEND spending having “significant impact” on cash balances

5.9% budget increase for 2025-26 conceals £22 million cuts and £66 million cost increases with “inevitable” impact on “vital” services.

Grace Road Fields March 2025

Exeter Energy insists Riverside Valley Park only viable heat plant site but fails to explain Marsh Barton brownfield rejection

Company admits River Exe water source connection merely “potential” after 2036, incinerator connection only “possible” after 2030 and solar array “will not” meet plant electricity demand while statutory objections challenge Grace Road Fields plans.

Exeter Community Lottery revenue distribution FAQ

Exeter Community Lottery income spent on gambling licence fees and costs despite council marketing and point of sale claims

Materially misleading claims that 60% of ticket sales revenue goes to good causes repeatedly made on lottery website and in official council communications as Australian multinational profits from local voluntary and community sector support.

On Our Radar
Titus Andronicus by Nicholas Rowe

THURSDAY 3 APRIL 2025

Titus Andronicus

Lightbear Lane hosts a reading of Shakespeare’s bloody revenge tale.

ST NICHOLAS PRIORY

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

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