Features
Stories that explore key issues behind the headlines
2025 Exeter & Devon local elections guide
Devon County Council elections take place on 1 May alongside two Exeter City Council by-elections. Our essential guide explores the background to this year’s ballot and assesses the contests in each of the city’s electoral divisions and wards.
, updated
City council holds sham Northbrook swimming pool closure consultation
£600,000 Exeter Leisure services budget cut signed off two weeks before pool consultation opened as St Sidwell’s Point drains other council leisure sites.
Annual city council rough sleeper count “consistently underestimates” extent of Exeter rough sleeping
Homelessness charity St Petrock’s calls on council to change count methodology which identifies fewer rough sleepers than those known by outreach workers and reflected in government figures.
Devon County Council reveals perilous financial state with SEND spending having “significant impact” on cash balances
5.9% budget increase for 2025-26 conceals £22 million cuts and £66 million cost increases with “inevitable” impact on “vital” services.
Exeter Energy insists Riverside Valley Park only viable heat plant site but fails to explain Marsh Barton brownfield rejection
Company admits River Exe water source connection merely “potential” after 2036, incinerator connection only “possible” after 2030 and solar array “will not” meet plant electricity demand while statutory objections challenge Grace Road Fields plans.
Exeter Community Lottery income spent on gambling licence fees and costs despite council marketing and point of sale claims
Materially misleading claims that 60% of ticket sales revenue goes to good causes repeatedly made on lottery website and in official council communications as Australian multinational profits from local voluntary and community sector support.