NEWS

Exeter College seeks to replace planned Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion with dedicated teaching facility

Revisions to consented scheme that includes fencing, floodlighting and replacement of publicly-accessible playing fields with artificial turf no longer reinstate demolished changing rooms or provide equipment storage or pitch viewing facilities.

Martin Redfern

Exeter College is seeking permission to replace its plans for a new sports pavilion at Flowerpot Fields with a dedicated teaching facility that no longer provides any changing rooms, equipment storage or pitch viewing facilities.

Exeter City Council granted planning permission to redevelop the changing rooms which previously occupied the site in February last year. They have since been demolished.

Its decision relied on outdoor recreation-related uses of the proposed new building which would comply with “local and national policies supporting a healthy lifestyle and protecting the environment and local amenity”.

Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion, original proposal elevations Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion, original proposal elevations. Image: Grainge.

A council officer’s report to the meeting of the planning committee that approved the plans emphasised the importance of the city’s valley parks, within one of which Flowerpot Fields is located.

It said: “The only forms of development appropriate within these areas concern outdoor recreation, agriculture or forestry”.

Confirming that “the proposed sports pavilion would replace an existing changing room facility on the site” it added that the redevelopment “would significantly contribute to the outdoor recreational and leisure uses available on the city’s western side”.

The report only used the word “classroom” once, to summarise a letter in support of the college planning application.

The proposed structure was described at the meeting as a “contemporary pavilion building” which would “offer replacement changing facilities, a classroom, a sports laboratory and a gym”.

Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion, consented scheme floor plans Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion, consented scheme floor plans. Image: Grainge.

In February this year, Exeter College applied to vary the planning consent to move the building’s plant to its roof to “protect it from flood events”.

Its agent said the changes would enable the “reconfiguration of the internal layout of the pavilion which will create changing room facilities in keeping with the elite level sports training being delivered through the Exeter Chiefs Academy and Exeter College”.

Partly because the original plans had generated considerable controversy, as they included the fencing, floodlighting and replacement of publicly-accessible playing fields with artificial turf, the variation also prompted several public objections.

Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion, August 2024 revision proposal floor plans Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion, August 2024 revision proposal floor plans. Image: Grainge.

Then, in August, the college changed its proposals again, halving the height of the building to a single storey and removing all the changing rooms, equipment storage and pitch viewing facilities that had made it a sports pavilion in the first place.

Its agent did not say anything about how the flood risks that had prompted it to move the plant to the roof in February would now be mitigated.

It also failed to mention the removal of all the outdoor recreation-related facilities that had provided the basis for the council’s planning consent the previous year, or that the new building would now only provide a dedicated teaching facility.

When the council sought public comments on its plans to extend the college leases at Flowerpot Fields, shortly after the college submitted its revised plans, it described the new building, apparently without irony, as a “changing pavilion”.

At the same time the college started work on site prematurely, still saying the new facility would include changing rooms which would be available for community use.

After a public outcry it subsequently agreed to cease construction and do no more pending the outcome of the public consultation, which has yet to be announced.

Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion, August 2024 revision proposal elevations Flowerpot Fields sports pavilion, August 2024 revision proposal elevations. Image: Grainge.

We asked Exeter City Council to explain how the latest revisions to the college Flowerpot Fields redevelopment scheme can be considered compliant with the planning consent it granted last year.

It said it could not comment on the application as it is out for public consultation and has yet to be determined.

We also asked Exeter College the same question, as well as why it has removed all outdoor recreation-related facilities from the plans and on what basis the building could now be described as a “sports pavilion”.

It failed to provide any answers by the time we went to press.


Comments on the latest revisions to the Exeter College Flowerpot Fields redevelopment scheme can be left via the city council website until Sunday 13 October.


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
Illustrative floor plan of new redevelopment proposals

New Heavitree Road police station student accommodation and “co-living” complex proposals submitted to Exeter City council

Application for full planning permission for 813-room scheme in seven blocks follows decision to reject previously-proposed 955-room scheme in two blocks which was subsequently upheld at appeal.

Danny Barnes

Danny Barnes received full £15,000 Devon County Council allowance during 2024-25

Heavitree & Whipton Barton councillor failed to sign off £14,600 community grants after attending only two of fifteen public meetings and is alleged to have worked for Scottish Labour MP Imogen Walker since shortly after last year’s general elections.

, updated

Exeter cycle route E9 Wonford Road bus gate modal filter

Wonford Road modal filter bus gate to be first of five Exeter ANPR camera sites

Devon County Council will use new moving traffic offence enforcement powers to issue penalty charge notices to motorists contravening active travel, bus lane and one-way street restrictions.

Devon five-a-day fruit & vegetable consumption by district 2023-24

Exeter residents eat lowest proportion of 5-a-day fruit and vegetables in Devon with only South Hams above England average

Public health report also finds three in ten Devon residents are physically inactive and nearly two-thirds overweight with new countywide health and well-being strategy due in autumn.

Save Northbrook Pool campaigners dressed in black outside Exeter City Council's offices on 24 June 2025

Labour councillors dive deeper into denial in decision to abandon Northbrook pool

Exeter residents mourn as council suppresses destructive consequences of creating St Sidwell’s Point complex that looms in leisure service shadows like a leviathan.

Devon & Torbay Combined County Authority draft local growth plan infographic

Devon & Torbay CCA keeps quiet about 2025-35 Local Growth Plan as it takes charge of regional development agenda

Combined County Authority privately selects unspecified stakeholders to co-author document setting out strategic priorities but with little of substance to say on addressing region’s structural challenges.

On Our Radar
St Thomas churchyard

SATURDAY 19 JULY 2025

Love St Thomas Summer Festival

New community event launches with live music, talks, workshops, stalls, refreshments and family-friendly activities.

ST THOMAS CHURCHYARD

Summer at the Quayside illustration

TUESDAY 29 JULY TO FRIDAY 29 AUGUST 2025

Summer at the Quayside

A month of free family activities including weaving, felting, doodling and drumming.

EXETER QUAY

Spork! summer special

THURSDAY 31 JULY TO THURSDAY 14 AUGUST 2025

Theatre in the Park

Exeter Phoenix hosts an al fresco summer theatre season featuring Shakespeare, spoken-word poetry, puppetry and physical comedy.

ROUGEMONT GARDENS