Exeter regional planning & place

A guide to help potential contributors develop their understanding of planning and place policy and practice in and around Exeter.

If you are considering contributing to Exeter Observer please see our contributors guide.

This guide is work in progress, and may require revision: please get in touch with any corrections or suggestions for additional content, including key documents.

National planning framework

  • 1947 Town & Country Planning Act - “nationalisation” of land, urban sprawl, post-war context
  • Labour regional spatial strategies, would have gone to now-defunct Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)
  • 2000s - 20+ Planning Policy Statements
  • 2010 - National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Infrastructure policy statements, all intended to short circuit traditional system

NB don’t attempt to master the detail!

Regional planning

Local planning

  • Exeter City Council (ECC) Local Plan

    • Composition
    • Process for adoption
    • Five year land supply problem
    • Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) cf. PBSA
    • Neighbourhood Plans inc. Ide, St James

Key issues

  • St Sidwell’s Point - bus station redevelopment + Passivhaus leisure centre inc. Paris Street closure?
  • Citypoint inc. build to rent/co-living?
  • Liveable Exeter “Transformational housing delivery programme” inc. Future Places scheme
  • Exeter City Group inc. Exeter City Living - capital and revenue financing, Clifton Hill sports centre site
  • Housing Revenue Account and Prudential borrowing limits
  • Purpose Build Student Accommodation (PBSA) - St James Article 4 Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)
  • Housing costs vs wages - Exeter now sixth least affordable city in country
  • Eastwards development inc. Cranbrook, Monkerton, Newcourt + Growth Point/Enterprise Zone inc. science park/skypark/airport, Sandy Gate + retail sites inc. Moor Exchange, Middlemoor (D&C Police), Western Power Distribution
  • Ikea - 28,000m2 retail, parking for 1000 cars, generating 390,000 linked journeys into city centre each year
  • Exeter College Hele Road redevelopment
  • Royal Clarence Hotel
  • South Street regeneration inc. closure?
  • Corn Exchange revelopment vs. purpose-built performance venue
  • Exeter City Council surface car park redevelopment
  • Exeter Quay inc. Mallison bridge
  • Cranbrook

  • Building Greater Exeter skills initiative

Key documents

  • ECC core strategy DPD adopted Feb 2012
  • ECC Exeter city centre vision for a green capital Apr 2011
  • ECC housing strategy 2016-2020
  • ECC Liveable Exeter Feb 2019
  • ECC local development scheme Jan 2017
  • ECC South Street urban design proposals Aug 2018
  • ECC St Sidwell’s Point Dec 2018
  • Exeter & East Devon Growth Point LGA case study Jul 2017
  • Exeter St James Neighbourhood Plan Mar 2013
  • ECC Exeter strategic housing land availability assessment (revised) 2015

More guides

Guides covering other Exeter regional policy and practice areas are also being prepared.

Recent stories
Independent local business on Paris Street, Exeter

Analysis  ⁄  Planning & place

Prospects improve for pop-up Paris Street and Sidwell Street tenants wanting to stay on development site

Council leader Phil Bialyk says it will be "some years" before planned CityPoint redevelopment affects repurposed retail units, and that council "would want" to accommodate artistic and cultural initiatives and independent local businesses "should they wish to remain".

Greta Thunberg outside the Swedish parliament building in August 2018

Interview  ⁄  Climate & environment

Greta Thunberg calls on world leaders for honesty at COP26

An interview with climate activist Greta Thunberg on the eve of the COP26 summit published in partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global media collaboration.

Clifton Hill sports centre

Analysis  ⁄  Planning & place

Council plans to scrap affordable housing requirement for Clifton Hill sports centre site redevelopment

Council-owned and financed developer cites unpublished report which values council-owned land for student housing despite council decision ruling out this use.

Liveable Exeter Place Board agenda October 2020 redacted

Analysis  ⁄  Democracy & governance

City council outsourcing Exeter local government to unaccountable Liveable Exeter Place Board

An Exeter Observer investigation of Liveable Exeter Place Board has found that it is a de facto decision-making and governance body which exercises public functions with the potential to affect everyone who lives and works in Exeter.

Exeter city centre from Exeter Cathedral roof

Analysis  ⁄  Democracy & governance

Freedom of Information requests reveal Liveable Exeter Place Board "chumocracy" overseeing the city

Despite the significance of Liveable Exeter Place Board's role in determining the city's future, its members are selected and appointed on a secretive, informal basis.

Peninsula Transport vision document cover image

News  ⁄  Transport & mobility

30 year plan for SW transport outlined in consultation document

Strategic vision places investment in roads ahead of decarbonisation despite acknowledging the region's high car dependency rate.

More stories
Recent stories
Independent local business on Paris Street, Exeter

Prospects improve for pop-up Paris Street and Sidwell Street tenants wanting to stay on development site

Greta Thunberg outside the Swedish parliament building in August 2018

Greta Thunberg calls on world leaders for honesty at COP26

Clifton Hill sports centre

Council plans to scrap affordable housing requirement for Clifton Hill sports centre site redevelopment

Liveable Exeter Place Board agenda October 2020 redacted

City council outsourcing Exeter local government to unaccountable Liveable Exeter Place Board

Exeter city centre from Exeter Cathedral roof

Freedom of Information requests reveal Liveable Exeter Place Board "chumocracy" overseeing the city

Peninsula Transport vision document cover image

30 year plan for SW transport outlined in consultation document

More stories

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Featured stories
Bar chart showing 2020 pollution incidents per 10,000km2 for the nine privatised water companies in England

News  ⁄  Climate & environment

South West Water misses pollution targets for tenth year running

Environment Agency says regional company's performance "drags down the whole sector's reputation" as report places it at bottom of annual assessment league table while company pays out millions in shareholder dividends.

Harlequins revised redevelopment scheme illustrative elevation

News  ⁄  Planning & place

Harlequins developer plans to scrap hotel to build second "co-living" block on shopping centre site

Existing planning approval will be factor in decision to return to earlier, rejected, vision which would mean 378 studios and "cluster flat" rooms along Paul Street.

Positive Light Projects - Sidwell Street entrance

Analysis  ⁄  Arts & culture

Positive Light Projects opens community arts centre despite CityPoint redevelopment threat

Parts of Exeter city centre are experiencing an unplanned renaissance as small shops and cultural venues move in to fill empty units on Paris Street and Sidwell Street, but uncertainty remains as the council still plans to demolish and redevelop.

New Haven Field in Exeter's Riverside Valley Park

Analysis  ⁄  Planning & place

River Exe green spaces and heritage harbour site threatened by "Liveable Exeter" development scheme

Exeter Civic Society and Green, Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors raise alarm at prospect of Exeter City Council development in river valley park and historic canal basin.

Devon Pension Fund fossil fuel holdings

Analysis  ⁄  Climate & environment

Devon Pension Fund fossil fuel investment position exposed by Shell and BP AGM votes

Shareholder support for Paris Agreement-compatible goals increases but fails to prevent continuing oil and gas exploration, extraction, production or consumption as experts intensify warnings that emissions reductions goals will be missed.

Exeter City Council 2021 election results ballot share percentage by ward

Analysis  ⁄  Democracy & governance

Did Exeter's local elections results tell a Labour success story?

Exeter Labour lost just one seat in the city council elections and held all seven of its county hall seats, but on closer inspection its performance was more mixed than these headline results imply.

Centre for Cities Exeter City Monitor graphic

Comment  ⁄  Economy & enterprise

Selective use of statistics presents an unbalanced account of Exeter's economic & environmental status

Exeter City Council's Chief Executive uses statistics to show the city in a good light, but in doing so presents a picture which omits important information about the city's true position.

Train at Okehampton Station in 2015

News  ⁄  Transport & mobility

Okehampton to Exeter "Dartmoor Line" passenger rail service reinstatement confirmed

£40 million Department for Transport "Restoring your Railway" funding to enable trains every two hours by end of this year, with plans to increase to hourly service during 2022. Stakeholders combine to get South West infrastructure needs onto Whitehall agenda.

Maclaines Warehouses beside Exeter ship canal

Analysis  ⁄  Planning & place

Maclaines Warehouses development tests Exeter Heritage Harbour status

Decisions taken behind closed doors in favour of commercial interests threaten maritime and waterway heritage vision for Exeter’s historic quay, canal and canal basin.

Global lockdown pollution level changes

Comment  ⁄  Climate & environment

I'm a climate scientist – here's three key things I have learned over a year of COVID

A leading climate scientist's perspective on what the community has learned over the past year about the interactions between the pandemic and the current and future global climate.

Exeter Guildhall needs repairs

Analysis  ⁄  Democracy & governance

£37.5 million council maintenance backlog caused by underinvestment to be part-funded by asset sales

Exeter City Council has allowed property assets to deteriorate while prioritising new schemes including the £44 million St Sidwell's Point leisure centre, forcing it to identify assets for sale to pay its outstanding repair bills.

Exeter City Council offices on Paris Street

Analysis  ⁄  Democracy & governance

Council pushes back on Liveable Exeter Place Board scrutiny following membership change

Exeter City Council has responded to an enquiry about disproportionate Church of England representation on the Liveable Exeter Place Board by accusing Exeter Observer of promoting a "partisan narrative" and claiming our public interest reporting "bears no resemblance to fact".

Harlequins shopping centre

Analysis  ⁄  Planning & place

First Liveable Exeter homes are substandard "warehousing for people" which is student accommodation "in all but name"

Harlequins shopping centre redevelopment approved by Exeter City Council includes 251 co-living units in seven storey tower block despite widespread opposition from conservation charities and community campaigners who have since appealed to the Secretary of State to call in the decision.

St Sidwell's Point development site outline aerial view

Analysis  ⁄  Democracy & governance

Exeter City Council executive members take direct control of city planning decisions

Council's executive now possesses majority on city planning committee, with council leader and planning portfolio holder also included despite national guidance, offering basis to challenge decisions and increasing democratic deficit.

Net Zero Exeter 2030 plan proposals vs Exeter territorial emissions vs Exeter carbon footprint bar chart

Analysis  ⁄  Climate & environment

Is the "Net Zero" Exeter plan fit for purpose? Part I: Exeter's carbon footprint

Exeter City Futures' carbon reduction plan ignores over a million tonnes of carbon emissions and massively underestimates the challenges facing the city. First in a series examining its flaws by Fridays For Future youth climate activists.

Food retailers at Queen Street Dining in Exeter Guildhall shopping centre

Analysis  ⁄  Democracy & governance

Unelected Liveable Exeter Place Board created to oversee city from the shadows

Exeter City Council has convened an unelected board that meets in private, does not publish its discussions or decisions and is taking responsibility for major policies which will determine Exeter's future.

Department for Transport New Road Layout for Social Distancing coronavirus road sign

Analysis  ⁄  Transport & mobility

Coronavirus exposes council failure to deliver Exeter transport plans

Devon County Council's failure to deliver overdue Exeter transport strategy and cycling and walking plan has led to an inadequate response to government demands for emergency coronavirus road layout changes.

Pulling Road Pinhoe Exeter zero carbon housing development site plan

Analysis  ⁄  Planning & place

Exeter's first "zero carbon" housing development includes 96 car parking spaces for 40 homes

Exeter City Council has approved plans to develop land at Pinhoe with a parking ratio of 2.4 cars per household as part of an "exemplar scheme for future residential development in the city" while accepting that zero carbon construction comes "at a cost to the provision of affordable housing".