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THE EXETER DIGEST
Exeter Digest #48: Auditor broadens inquiry - Victoria Street co-living - SEND deficit deal
As the 2024 local election campaigns get under way we invite readers to help us hold Exeter’s politicians to account, plus community and culture highlights including Italian Liberation Day, Bloom Festival and Pint of Science.
NEWS & ANALYSIS
Auditor broadens inquiry to include Exeter City Futures and ex-CEO secondment to liquidated company
More ‘significant weaknesses’ found in city council governance and financial and performance management arrangements while St Sidwell’s Point valued at £7 million less than build cost and £370,000 ex-CEO final year pay and benefits confirmed. Full story here.
Victoria Street ‘co-living’ complex revisions still propose five times recommended residential density
Brownfield claim for site in heart of St James implies any Exeter residential property with garden, garage and driveway ripe for build to rent redevelopment. Full story here.
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. Full story here.
EXETER OBSERVER COMMUNITY
Help hold Exeter’s politicians to account during the 2024 local elections
Send us any campaign materials you receive so we can factcheck claims and keep tabs on pledges after the votes have been counted. More details here.
ON OUR RADAR
Italian Liberation Day festival // The Hall
Italian Cultural Association Exeter hosts a day of music, dance, poetry, singing and Italian food. Sunday 21 April. More details here.
Exeter Pride 2024 // Northernhay Gardens
Exeter Pride returns for a celebration of LGBTQ+ diversity with a parade, marketplace, music, cabaret and more. Saturday 11 May. More details here.
Bloom Festival 2024 // Exeter Phoenix
Mental health and wellbeing event returns with a day of workshops, talks, poetry and performances. Sunday 12 May. More details here.
Pint of Science // Exeter city centre
Three day festival presents talks by Exeter research scientists in three city centre pubs. Monday 13 to Wednesday 15 May. More details here.
Exeter City Council is about to seize the helm of Exe estuary maritime life: will it steer it onto the rocks?
Charges for waterways access are set to be imposed from the quay and canal basin to the coast under proposed Harbour Revision Order powers after six years of rising costs propelled by pursuit of Port Marine Safety Code compliance. They risk driving away craft of all sizes, from kayaks to yachts, while redevelopment threatens canalside land – but it’s not too late to change course.
, updated
Exeter In Brief
EXETER SCIENCE PARK has appointed a new chief executive to take over from Sally Basker, who will retire in June this year after more than nine years in the post. Appointee Lindsay Lucas will leave her role as Head of Training and Consultancy at social enterprise Cosmic.
1,250 people have signed a petition to save Guildhall Shopping Centre children’s play space LITTLE EXETER from closure. The petition calls on Exeter City Council, which owns the shopping centre freehold and borrowed £55 million to buy back its leasehold and redevelop the building in October 2021, to “intervene, support and advocate” to preserve the play space. Former Guildhall Shopping Centre marketing manager Nikki Fairclough, who founded the non-profit play space three years ago, announced its closure in November last year. It is due to open for the last time on Saturday 21 February.
Network Rail and Great Western Railway have announced that the lines running from EXETER ST DAVID’S to Barnstaple and Okehampton will remain closed until further notice for safety checks following last week’s storms. Dive teams will inspect submerged structures such as bridges and viaducts to check for damage. Limited rail replacement bus services are in place.
Two ex-Reform UK Devon county councillors have joined ADVANCE UK, a far-right party launched in 2025 and led by former Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib. Edward Hill and Angela Nash won seats as Reform UK candidates in last year’s Devon County Council elections. Two months later Edward Hill was expelled from the party then Angela Nash left in September. Advance UK counts far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – known as Tommy Robinson – as a member.
Alison Hernandez, Police & Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and The Isles Of Scilly, says that a 2026-27 government funding shortfall has left her with “no choice” but to propose increasing the DEVON & CORNWALL POLICE council tax precept by 5.2% – the maximum permitted – equating to a £15 increase per annum for council tax band D properties across the peninsula.
A BARNFIELD ROADcycling and walking scheme has been rejected by the Exeter Highways and Traffic Order committee. The proposals included widening a footpath, raising road crossings to give pedestrians priority at junctions, widening cycle lanes and re-routing motor traffic to prevent traffic exiting Southernhay at the junction of Barnfield Road and Western Way.
DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL has confirmed it intends to dispose of a 1.5 acre plot in the grounds of County Hall despite the submission of 180 objections in two rounds of public consultation. The sale was proposed by the county cabinet in October 2023 after buildings known as the “Matford offices” which occupied part of the plot were demolished, leaving their foundations intact. The county council says that selling the site of the buildings alone would not yield the optimal financial return required by its best value duty and that the inclusion of 0.91 acres of public open space in the sale – which amounts to 7.4% of the green space at County Hall – provides curtilage that is necessary to the site’s redevelopment viability. It also says that Exeter City Council, which has earmarked the site for residential housing in the new Exeter Local Plan, is responsible for many of the issues raised by objectors as local planning authority.
Exeter City Council leader Phil Bialyk hides behind flimsy CEO capacity claims to contrive local elections cancellation
Labour councillors plumb new depths to cling to power – and personal financial gain – as government-backed contempt for democracy enables seven of eight executive members to avoid ballots in their wards until council abolition in 2028.
Exeter Rugby Group reports £10.3 million losses as Exeter Chiefs seeks new investor
Losses include £6.2 million loan write-off associated with Sandy Park Hotel owned by club chairman Tony Rowe.
Exeter is for Everyone event attendees outnumber anti-migrant marchers 14:1
Around 850 people took part in city centre event held under “Unite Against the Far Right” banner while “Unity March Exeter” attendees numbered around 60.
Plans for six-storey Summerland Street student block submitted for approval
Spinnaker Estates application for full planning permission for 180-bed redevelopment would increase number of student beds in immediate area to 1,754.
Devon County Council funding cuts set to reduce core library opening hours by 30%
Public consultation on changes explores possibility of closing some branches altogether despite claims to the contrary while Libraries Unlimited contract extension decision scheduled for six weeks before consultation ends.
Exeter City Council adds 813 more student and “co-living” beds to city “housing” supply with Heavitree Road approval
Complex of seven blocks up to six storeys tall on site of police station and magistrates court to bring purpose-built temporary accommodation tally to 3,250 beds in Newtown alone – while failing to meet local plan minimum building separation policy.
On Our Radar
SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2026
Fundraiser for Sudan
Dance, drumming and mask-making workshop to raise funds for charities working in Sudan.
EXWICK COMMUNITY CENTRE
SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2026
Exeter History Book Festival
One-day event with talks from four Devon historians and stalls from local heritage organisations.
MINT METHODIST CHURCH CENTRE
SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2026
Isca Ensemble chamber concert
An evening of Mozart and Beethoven with violin soloist Joel Munday.
ST DAVID'S CHURCH
Spotlight
Labour and Conservative councillors join forces to block Exeter city centre antisocial behaviour initiative
Rejection of voluntary and community sector calls for more inclusive response follows thirteen-year council failure to comply with legal duties under crime and disorder legislation in relation to Exeter Community Safety Partnership.
