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ON OUR RADAR

Fore Street Flea 10th anniversary

Market returns for 2026 season with stalls selling vintage items, jewellery, crafts, clothing, records, food and drink.

Leigh Curtis

Fore Street Flea celebrates its 10th anniversary on 17 May with stalls selling vintage items, jewellery, crafts, clothing, records, food and drink.

Fore Street Flea market Sunday 17 May 2026 Exeter

The market was created by local businesses in Fore Street and first held in 2016. It is now managed by InExeter, the Business Improvement District for Exeter.

Trading pitches cost between £33 and £44 and are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. They can be booked via Eventbrite.

Fore Street Flea takes place from 12-4pm on Sunday 17 May 2026 in Exeter city centre.

The market’s 2026 season continues on 19 July, 13 September and 22 November.

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Exeter In Brief

Exeter City Council has been awarded £20 million of government PRIDE IN PLACE funding to be spent over the next ten years in Heavitree and Whipton. It says it will set up a dedicated board with Exeter MP Steve Race to “bring together residents, councillors, local organisations and partners to identify priorities and guide how the funding is used”. Monday 23 March 2026

An Exeter City Council bid to become 2029 UK CITY OF CULTURE has failed, as have rival bids by Plymouth and Bristol. The council announced its intention to submit a bid in late January at a promotional event which opened with a speech from council CEO Bindu Arjoon just two weeks after she presented a report claiming the council did not have sufficient capacity to hold this year’s local elections. The council’s previous city of culture bid also failed. The repeatedly-delayed replacement for Exeter’s cultural strategy, which expired two years ago, is currently scheduled for adoption in August. Friday 21 March 2026

Hire-by-the-hour car club CO WHEELS, which operates in 63 towns and cities in England and Scotland, has launched a scheme in Exeter with five low-emission hybrid vehicles located in Southernhay, Powderham Crescent, College Road, Polsloe Road and Bartholomew Street West. Devon County Council has been trying to procure a new countywide car club provider since the collapse of Exeter-based shared mobility provider Co-Cars, which ceased trading in July 2023 along with shared bike scheme Co-Bikes. Thursday 19 March 2026

On Our Radar

SATURDAY 18 APRIL 2026

La Cenerentola

Exeter Opera Group performs Rossini’s variation on Cinderella with a twist.

ST NICHOLAS PRIORY

Friday 6 March 2026

MONDAY 20 APRIL 2026

Seedlings

A one-off workshop focussed on the work of Akwesasne seed keeper Rowen White.

LOVE FOOD HUB

Wednesday 11 March 2026

First Folio frontispiece from Folger Shakespeare Library

WEDNESDAY 22 TO SUNDAY 26 APRIL 2026

South West Shakespeare Festival

Inaugural festival programme features performances, exhibitions and film screenings.

EXETER CITY CENTRE

Thursday 19 March 2026

On The Agenda

Developer EUTOPIA HOMES has submitted further design revisions to its application for full planning permission for a 297-bed seven storey “co-living” complex in Mary Arches Street, triggering a third public consultation on the plans. Its latest revisions include roof line amendments and the addition of corner balconies. Previous design revisions included swapping bedspaces for kitchen space and halving cycle storage but did not address “miniscule” room sizes in the blocks, which were condemned as “slums of the future”. Comments on the revised proposals can be submitted via the city council website until Sunday 5 April. Thursday 19 March 2026

Devon County Council has approved the delivery of a 1.5 kilometre second phase section of the EXETER TO CRANBROOK SHARED USE PATH after work on the the first phase of the path began last year as part of the construction of the new Clyst Meadows Country Park. When completed, the two-phase section will link an existing cycle path that runs through the Tithebarn and Mosshayne developments near Exeter Science Park to a further section which is due to be delivered by the developers of the Blue Hayes housing estate in Cranbrook. The newly-approved second phase section is expected to cost £4.2 million, £1.35 million of which will be funded by Active Travel England and £1.8 million by Community Infrastructure Levy payments. Monday 16 March 2026

Devon County Council has been awarded a total of £7.53 million to deliver around 90 new ZERO EMISSION BUSES across the county through the government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme. The new diesel-replacement fleet will include an additional fourteen vehicles funded through Devon’s Bus Service Improvement Plan. Monday 16 March 2026

A Devon County Council consultation on controversial DRYDEN ROAD layout changes has resumed after being halted at the request of councillors to clarify the options it presented. Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee agreed to hold a public consultation on changes to the road layout at its meeting in October last year after being presented with a petition of over 2,000 signatures. The petition followed the introduction of a modal filter preventing motor through-traffic on the road, which forms part of the E9 strategic cycle route, in 2020. In January this year the committee agreed four options for public consultation which include introducing a bus gate, making the road one-way only to motor traffic and re-opening the road with the addition of segregated cycle lanes. Two days after the consultation opened on 2 March it was paused while County Hall officers made clear that the cycle lanes would be painted rather than physically segregated from motor traffic. The consultation has been extended by five days and will now close on Friday 10 April.
Friday 6 March 2026

Resident doctors set for six-day strike after Easter following “insufficient” pay offer from health secretary Wes Streeting

93% of British Medical Association resident doctor members vote in favour of fifteenth round of industrial action as dispute with government enters fourth year.

Saturday 28 March 2026

Centre for Cities Outlook 2026 chart comparing best and worst performers on economic growth and living standards since 2013

Centre for Cities finds Exeter economic growth and living standards performance among worst in country’s 63 largest places

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.

Saturday 14 March 2026

Exeter City Council leader Phil Bialyk and deputy Laura Wright at the Palace of Westminster

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.

Monday 16 February 2026

Phil Bialyk speaking at Exeter City Council 13 January 2026 Guildhall meeting

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.

Saturday 31 January 2026

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.

Saturday 24 January 2026

Spotlight

Dawlish Warren and Exe Estuary mouth sandbanks

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.

Sunday 30 November 2025, updated 5 December 2025