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THE EXETER DIGEST
Exeter Digest #90: Barley Lane greenfield plans - Summerland Street student block - Heavitree school playing field retirement flats - city council accounts inspection
With our pick of upcoming local community and culture highlights and a recap of the top stories from our previous edition.
HEADLINES
Barley Lane greenfield plans place persistent threat to Exeter’s north and north-west hills in spotlight
Council inability to identify sufficient land to meet government housing delivery targets leaves residents with faint hope of local plan policies preventing Nadder Park Road ridgeline development despite 160 public objections to scheme. Read more here.
Pre-application feedback sought on proposals for six storey Summerland Street student accommodation block
Redevelopment of Unit 1 nightclub and Best Tyre Auto Centre in Verney Street would add 180 beds to 1,575 student bedspaces in immediate area on top of 145 studios in consented but unbuilt Summerland Street “co-living” block. Read more here.
McCarthy Stone set to build 36 retirement flats on Heavitree school playing field
Proposals prompting concerns about loss of green space and adverse impact on historic character of conservation area follow redevelopment of former Bramdean School in Homefield Road. Read more here.
Unaudited 2024-25 city council accounts published for annual inspection period
Special information access rights enabling residents to examine records apply until 6 October after asset revaluation delayed publication from 1 July to 26 August. Read more here.
ON OUR RADAR
Heritage Open Days 2025 // Exeter city centre & elsewhere
Annual festival returns with free talks, tours and exhibitions at heritage sites in and around Exeter. More details here.
Exeter Contemporary Open 2025 // Phoenix Gallery
Annual exhibition featuring fifteen contemporary visual artists from across the UK. More details here.
Sid’s Supper Fundraiser // St Sidwell’s Community Centre
Community centre hosts locally-sourced seasonal three-course meal to help improve café facilities. More details here.
BELOW THE FOLD
25 stories for the 2025 summer recess
The Exeter Observer team took a short break from publishing during the summer recess to carry out essential maintenance and development work.
We picked 25 stories from the preceding twelve months to keep readers ticking over until September.
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.
The redevelopment of KING GEORGE V PLAYING FIELD by Exeter City Community Trust has begun after a scheme to install a full-size artificial football pitch with floodlighting, refurbish and extend a sports pavilion and expand its car park was approved by Exeter City Council last August. The decision was made by officers and did not go before the council’s planning committee. It followed a July 2024 council decision to transfer 40 acres of land at the Countess Wear playing fields to the trust which was made without a promised “wide-ranging, fully open public consultation” on the proposal. The trust instead held an informal consultation in December 2024. The council executive is due to hear an otherwise unexplained item related to the scheme next month described as “relating to financial ask of c.£475,000”.
£46 million of debt – including £392,000 owed to former employees – will be left unpaid by MIDAS CONSTRUCTION LIMITED following its dissolution, according to documents filed at Companies House by its administrator. The 2022 collapse of Midas, which had seven offices in Exeter and across the south west, led to hundreds of job losses and left numerous projects stalled including schools, homes, hotels and warehouses.
Significant storm damage has prompted emergency works to shore up the bank separating the Exe estuary from the BOWLING GREEN MARSH nature reserve at Topsham. Exeter City Council has repeatedly postponed a flood defence scheme proposed for the site, which it owns. It says that the emergency works are “not likely not be a long-term solution” and that “longer-lasting repairs for the areas of worst damage” are “currently being investigated”.
The developer of a scheme at 130 FORE STREET is seeking to amend the design, height and layout of the building, which extends down West Street towards Grade I listed St Mary Steps church, by converting the building’s basement level – previously occupied by Crankhouse Coffee – from commercial to residential use and reducing the number of flats in the scheme, which was originally approved thirteen years ago. Exeter City Council rejected an attempt to add a fifth storey to the scheme in 2023, a decision which was upheld at appeal last year.
The government has said it will write off 90% of the SEND SERVICES deficit accumulated by Devon County Council to the end of March this year. The Devon deficit reached £171 million last October, among the largest in the country and £62.9 million more than the limit agreed with the government as part of its “safety valve” deal, according to a county cabinet report published last month. Devon County Council leader Julian Brazil said it had since risen to around £200 million. The council welcomed the announcement, although it will have to agree to change the way it offers SEND services under as-yet unpublished government plans, adding that it would need to “work through the detail” as part of its budget-setting process.
More stories
Exeter local elections to go ahead in May after government cancellation U-turn
Secretary of State Steve Reed withdraws decision following legal advice in face of Reform UK High Court challenge, leaving city council leader Phil Bialyk facing electoral oblivion.
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.
On Our Radar
THURSDAY 5 & FRIDAY 6 MARCH 2026
Two Short Nights
Short film festival returns with awards ceremony and more.
EXETER PHOENIX
SATURDAY 7 MARCH 2026
From Haydn to The Highlands
The Orchard Cafe Quartet plays folk and classical music from Scandinavia and Scotland.
ST NICHOLAS PRIORY
SATURDAY 7 MARCH 2026
The People of Exeter
An afternoon hosted by Love St Thomas focussed on Exeter’s historic multicultural character with talks, conversation and a community lunch.
ST THOMAS CHURCH HALL
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.
