Good journalism costs money  Upgrade to paid

THE EXETER DIGEST

Exeter Digest #50: 2024 local elections special

This year’s ballot promises to be the most unpredictable contest in years. Our comprehensive elections guide has got you covered and our briefing has all the how-to-vote details you need.

ANALYSIS

2024 Exeter local elections guide

City council elections take place on Thursday 2 May. Our comprehensive guide covers who’s standing where, wards to watch and the backdrop to this year’s ballot, which promises to be the most unpredictable contest in years. Read it here.

BRIEFING

When, where and how to vote in the 2024 Exeter local elections

Our guide to casting your ballot in person, by post and by proxy as well as voter ID requirements and new regulations for postal votes. Read it here.

SPRING 2024 COMMUNITY SHARE OFFER

Exeter Observer celebrates five years of local public interest news publishing

Invest in our Spring 2024 community share offer to help us deliver all the independent journalism Exeter needs and make it five more. More details here.

MISSED EXETER DIGEST #49?

Read it on our website where you can find all our independent journalism.

Good journalism costs money

The only way to cover the cost of producing and publishing independent public interest journalism is by readers helping to pay for it.

Each of Exeter Observer's paying subscribers keeps us up and running for one day each year by chipping in less than £2/week.

Our members contribute more towards our running costs and get more in return.

135 of the 300 readers we need as paying subscribers have signed up so far, which keeps us going until the middle of May each year.

If you think Exeter needs this kind of journalism then help us cover our costs all year round by joining them today.

Upgrade to paid

More stories
Illustrative view of proposed co-living blocks from Heavitree Road

Heavitree Road police station student accommodation and “co-living” scheme consultation extended

Developers revise application for full planning permission for 813-bed seven-block complex submitted in May as similar proposals proliferate across city centre.

Boneyard arcade games

Unique retro games arcade to create new Sidwell Street venue after long search

Boneyard arcade seeking permission to change use of empty Brighthouse retail unit after making way for “co-living” block at previous Red Lion Lane location.

Proposed revised Mary Arches Bartholomew Street East co-living block elevation

Mary Arches “co-living” developer resists “miniscule” room size criticisms as design revisions prompt further consultation

Changes include increased building footprints and removal of twelve rooms to provide eleven communal kitchens – between residents of 297 studios – while gates obstruct pedestrian thoroughfare and site’s historic setting and significance essentially ignored.

September 2025 permitted replacement scheme west elevation

Council denies data and contrives criteria to dismiss community balance concerns in third King Billy student block approval

Exeter Observer analysis finds more students living in city centre than residents as council bid to include PBSA in housing delivery figures weakens local planning policy – but does not remove it from decision-making altogether.

, updated

Grace Road Fields in March

Botched consultation restarted on sale of 8.5 acres of Riverside Valley Park green space

Council land disposal to include rights to lay underground distribution pipework across River Exe floodplain following “low-to-zero carbon” Grace Road Fields heat plant planning approval in face of Environment Agency sequential test concerns.

On Our Radar
Jo Eades

FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER 2025

Spork! Dead Poets Slam 2025

Halloween spoken-word special featuring Jo Eades and Samuel L. Cohen with a £100 cash prize poetry slam.

EXETER PHOENIX

Carmen with rose graphic

SATURDAY 8 & SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2025

Carmen

Exeter Opera Group performs Bizet’s tale of a free-spirited woman and her passionate and destructive love affair with a soldier.

EXETER CASTLE

Exeter Philharmonic Choir

SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2025

The Weather Book

Exeter Philharmonic Choir performs a new weather-inspired work plus pieces by Brahms, Poulenc and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

EXETER CATHEDRAL