Exeter City Council has approved the unrestricted sale of Belle Isle Depot for redevelopment after its executive committee met in private last week to discuss the prospect of replacing its green space team operations base with luxury housing.
It has also allocated a £2.5 million budget for the acquisition of a new site for the depot and approved an undisclosed amount to cover the cost of preparing the current depot for disposal.
Belle Isle Depot, at the heart of Belle Isle Park
This is the second time the council has decided to sell Belle Isle Depot.
Four years ago it approved its sale to Exeter City Living for £2.2 million, expecting the company to replace the depot with 31 high specification flats and houses for private market sale.
It also took this decision in private, with press and public excluded. Its decision notice said nothing about the sale and did not connect it with another decision to allocate £3.5 million to the cost of relocating the depot to Exton Road, a project Exeter City Living was also expected to deliver.
The council subsequently discovered that South West Water restrictions prevented the depot’s relocation to Exton Road before Exeter City Living folded late last year.
The council has not disclosed where it plans to relocate the green space depot instead.
