PLANNING & PLACE
First Exeter 'co-living' rooms advertised to let from £1,045-£1,360 per month plus council tax
£40,800 minimum salary to rent 26.5 square metre room in six storey 133-unit block, promoted as two minutes' walk from university St Luke's campus, requiring tenants among top 20% of Exeter earners – or with wealthy guarantors.
PLANNING & PLACE
City council grants Howell Road garage flats permission despite pending PBSA appeal on same site
Developer still aims to build student accommodation block saying flats would be 'backstop' against loss of appeal while St James residents concerned students will occupy development either way.
PLANNING & PLACE
New Community Infrastructure Levy charges to be introduced by city council
Charges levied on most new development towards the cost of infrastructure that is needed to mitigate its impact are to change in line with council proposals that discount co-living development to facilitate its delivery.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
£1 million leisure overspend fuels £3.2 million city council deficit
2022-23 budget review confirms £2.2 million annual leisure subsidy to continue with St Sidwell's Point expected to make a loss for at least five years while another £22 million to be spent on Exeter City Living Vaughan Road development.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter councillor Yvonne Atkinson found in breach of code of conduct but escapes prosecution
Summary of investigation related to rental property interests involving Devon & Cornwall Police and Crown Prosecution Service withheld by Devon County Council while councillor campaigned for re-election to Exeter City Council.
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PLANNING & PLACE
University comes clean on true Exeter campus student numbers over past two decades
Figures obtained under Freedom of Information Act confirm between 7,500 and 12,000 more students based in city each year than university numbers suggest – until this year – with major implications for council planning policy.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Devon County Council admits 'serious, material, well-evidenced' governance failures
Deficient SEND and children's services combine with threat of section 114 bankruptcy notice to prompt 'root and branch' review aimed at restoring 'external confidence in the council's democratic legitimacy'.
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ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE
Decline in Exeter economic activity levels among largest in country
Census figures also show population increasing at nearly six times rate of job creation over past decade while healthcare, wholesale/retail and teaching make up nearly half of all employment, reflecting low pay and productivity.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Devon County Council charged with 'relentless institutional failings' in SEND children's services provision
Children with special educational needs and disabilities protest alongside parents at County Hall as Ofsted monitoring continues to find serious unresolved issues and key areas that require significant change.
PLANNING & PLACE
Information Commissioner to investigate university over student accommodation numbers refusal
Compliance failure follows university admission that nearly 39,000 students based at Exeter campuses in 2021-22, suggesting around three quarters of city's private rented housing stock occupied by students.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Reclaim the Night protest against sexual violence and harassment of women and girls in public space
Exeter event takes place after survey finding that 85% felt unsafe or very unsafe when walking alone in city centre at night, with police figures showing violent and sexual offences exceed 35% of all recorded crime in city.
PLANNING & PLACE
University says 39,000 students – nearly 30% of city's population – based at Exeter campuses in 2021-22
Freedom of information request reveals 11,500 more students than published FTE figures with major implications for council planning policy but university refuses to disclose numbers in PBSA vs residential housing stock.
PLANNING & PLACE
Council rejects calls for greater community involvement in Exeter planning policy and decisions
Council defends existing approach despite Statement of Community Involvement consultation producing just 17 responses, and won't do more to promote neighbourhood planning despite prospect of enhanced community powers.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
University of Exeter ranked bottom of Russell Group and 103rd overall in social mobility league table
Landmark study by Institute for Fiscal Studies, Sutton Trust and Department for Education finds University of Exeter undergraduates are less likely to come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those that do are less likely to be high earners.
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.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Environmental activist Imogen May defiant after second liability order for non-payment of council tax
Extinction Rebellion demonstrated at Exeter Law Courts in support of Crediton lone parent who has withheld council tax for two years in protest over government climate crisis inaction.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
South West Exeter district heating network plan abandoned
Property developers refuse to back scheme despite local authorities committing £7.3 million to project to supply 2500 new homes with waste heat from Marsh Barton incinerator, Exeter's largest single source of carbon emissions.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
World Meteorological Organization report confirms 'relentless' intensification of climate crisis despite pandemic lockdowns
2020 set to be equal warmest year on record despite cooling La Niña while Internal Energy Agency warns post-pandemic economic stimulus expected to drive second largest annual increase in carbon emissions in history and UK emissions set to overshoot 2030 target by 40%.
ARTS & CULTURE
Council announces plan to produce 'Exeter the Musical' at city's Corn Exchange
Exeter City Council has announced a plan to produce a musical theatre extravaganza billed as 'an ambitious celebration of a better life in the world's most world-class city' as part of its UNESCO City of Literature celebrations.
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.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Report places Devon County Council among UK's top local authority fossil fuel investors
£157 million of Devon Local Government Pension Scheme is invested in companies including Royal Dutch Shell, BP, BHP, Anglo American and ExxonMobil despite local authority climate emergency declarations and carbon reduction commitments.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
May local elections to go ahead despite COVID-19 challenges
Ban on doorstep canvassing and door to door leaflet distribution likely to favour the two major parties on 6 May as postal and proxy voting encouraged in Exeter City Council, Devon County Council and Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
District heating network planned for new South West Exeter development
Local councils are investing up to £7.3 million in a £23 million project to supply a development of 2500 homes with heat which depends on the Marsh Barton waste incinerator, Exeter's largest single source of carbon emissions.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Council abandons temporary COVID-19 cycling and walking safety plans in Exeter city centre
Devon County Council cites 'pushback' from traders as schemes on North Street, South Street, Fore Street and Cowick Street are scrapped. Meanwhile temporary changes in Topsham are dropped after 'snap poll'.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter City Council announces £1.584m April budget shortfall caused by COVID-19 restrictions
Council revenues have fallen dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic, prompting a £6.357 million capital spending deferment. But financial support from government has so far been limited.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
University of Exeter strike ends third week with rally and concert at St David's Church
The Exeter branch of the University & College Union (UCU) is taking part in four weeks of national industrial action over pensions, equal pay for female and BAME staff, increasing workloads and the use of casual employment contracts.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Exeter climate strike anniversary march brings junction to standstill
Protestors form human chain around County Hall to highlight Devon County Council's role as key regional climate policy decision-maker after Exeter City Council confiscates banners promoting carbon neutral blueprint policies.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
University of Exeter PRISM network champions queer STEMM pioneers
Exeter students celebrated the lives of polar explorer and botanist Elke Mackenzie, inventor, engineer and futurist Nikola Tesla and astronaut and children's author Sally Ride in winning LGBT+ network competition entries.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
University of Exeter staff strike over pay, pensions and working conditions
The Exeter branch of the University & College Union (UCU) is taking part in a national eight day strike for fair pay and pensions, including equal pay for female and BAME staff, and against casualisation and increasing workloads.
ARTS & CULTURE
Rainbow Trail LGBTQIA+ exhibition queers RAMM for Exeter Pride 2019
A new collaboration between X-Plore Youth Devon, Exeter College LGBTQ+ society, Natalie McGrath of Dreadnought SW and Dr Jana Funke of the University of Exeter explores gender and sexual diversity across time, place and culture by reimagining objects from the RAMM collections.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter Labour loses local elections in all three city centre wards
Voters in Exeter yesterday elected three new councillors to represent them in the key wards that cover the city centre, with all the city's ruling Exeter Labour group candidates missing out despite the party's confident campaign.
