Democracy doesn't work when people don't know Upgrade to paid
Leigh Curtis
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”.
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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.
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FRIDAY 22 MAY 2026
Debut show from theatre company Thresh & Bray explores the convergence of personal experience, ancestral threads and nature.
EXETER PHOENIX
Defiant Phil Bialyk says Exeter election results are vote of confidence in party which will propose own portfolio holders, leader and deputy at May annual meeting.
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The votes cast for each candidate with vote share and party vote share change in each ward plus turnout, postal votes and the distribution of seats.
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City council elections take place on Thursday 7 May. Our comprehensive guide covers who’s standing where, wards to watch and the backdrop to this year’s ballot, which looks set to end fourteen years of Labour majority control over the city.
Our guide to casting your ballot in person, by post and by proxy as well as voter ID requirements and regulations for casting postal votes.
Send us campaign materials as this year’s contest enters its final week so we can fact-check candidates’ claims and hold them to their pledges after the votes have been counted.
Council leader Phil Bialyk celebrates rapid Exeter population rise but fails to mention think-tank findings on falling disposable incomes, declining living standards, low wages and unaffordable housing – or impact of student numbers on population figures.
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.
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