Democracy doesn't work when people don't know  Upgrade to paid

NEWS

Exeter Business Improvement District wins ballot for third five-year term

Just under half of 670 businesses eligible to vote took part, 90% voting in favour of renewal.

Leigh Curtis

Exeter’s Business Improvement District is to continue for a third five-year term from April next year after a majority of eligible businesses that took part in a ballot voted in favour of its renewal.

334 of the 670 businesses that were eligible to vote participated in the ballot, which was open for just under a month. 90% of those which took part voted to retain the Business Improvement District, branded InExeter.

InExeter charges a levy of 1.25% of the rateable value of the premises of the businesses located within its operational areas whose premises have a ratable value of at least £7,500.

These cover a total of 44 streets including Fore Street, Exeter High Street and part of Sidwell Street. They also include Princesshay and Guildhall shopping centres and the areas around the cathedral and castle, as well as Magdalen Road.

In return it provides services and support to businesses in its operational areas and is responsible for the city centre Christmas lights, among other things.

InExeter Business Improvement District operational area map InExeter Business Improvement District operational area map. Image: InExeter.

InExeter’s 2025-30 business plan says the top three priorities for the businesses it represents, identified during a consultation process last year, are anti-social behaviour and criminal activity, high car parking charges and vacant city centre properties.

The plan lays out its strategic aims for the next five years, which cover safety, street cleaning, marketing and advocacy, and outlines its proposals for spending the £2.8 million it expects to raise via the levy during the period, based on its current 95% collection rate.

InExeter plans to increase its levy to 1.5% from 2025. It may then increase it by another 0.05% in each of the following four years of the term.

InExeter team with board members InExeter team with board members. Image: InExeter.

Exeter Business Improvement District launched in 2015. It was renewed for a second five-year term after 72% of the businesses which took part in the 2019 ballot voted in its favour. The turnout was also just under half.

A board of directors drawn from local venues and businesses, which currently also includes city councillor Laura Wright and county councillor Carol Whitton, oversees its operations, which are led by CEO Nicola Wheeler.

Democracy doesn't work when people don't know

Public interest news that holds power and influence to account is more important now than it has ever been.

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 was created to deliver the independent investigative journalism our local democracy needs.

It exists because people who think what we do matters are willing to chip in each month to help cover our costs.

We need more of our readers to contribute like this so we can keep producing and publishing our essential reporting.

137 of the 300 paying subscribers we need have signed up so far. Join them today to help us reach our goal.

If you value the work we do please support our work from less than £2/week. It's a small investment for a very big return.

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