Closed doors at County Hall for councillor conduct hearings
A survey of local authority approaches to standards committee hearings finds Devon County Council alone in imposing private determination of conduct complaints.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter electoral tectonic plates rumble as political landscape shifts
Labour takes second Conservative seat in Topsham but loses in St Thomas to Liberal Democrats as Green wins in Heavitree, St David's and Newtown & St Leonards place party second in 2023 city council elections.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
2023 Exeter local elections guide
City council elections take place on Thursday 4 May. Our essential guide highlights who's standing where, wards to watch and what the results might be. It also covers the wider context, voter ID and the impact of First Past the Post in Exeter elections.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Alphington worst represented ward as councillor attendance at public meetings varies widely across city
Consistent commitment to participation in democratic decision-making by some councillors in contrast with poor attendance rates of others.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Devon County Council social care cuts target homelessness services
£1.5 million homelessness prevention service funding cut will make situation worse for people who are homeless and at risk of homelessness and is likely to cost more than it saves.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Future of Devon bus services being decided behind closed doors
Devon County Council does not want the public to hear whether local service improvements are going according to plan.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Council slashes community grants but splashes cash on paddling pools in contested wards
Exeter grants programme budget reduced from £425,000 to £15,000 leaving hundreds of grassroots groups out in the cold as the impact of borrowing takes its toll and council fails to consult on budget cuts despite auditor recommendation.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Council lottery operator to take cut from local charitable donations
Decision to promote gambling as "incentivised giving" plays down risks without assessing potential impacts or evidencing claimed benefits, disrupting relationships between community and voluntary sector organisations and supporters.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter City Futures falsely claims development fund documents disclosed under FOI legislation
Senior council director puts company on collision course with Information Commissioner's Office as significant governance failings emerge after councillors and public kept in dark over Liveable Exeter financing scheme proposals.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter City Living put council at "significant financial risk" after £2.2 million loss in first two years
Missing business plan, lack of transparency and conflicts of interest among senior council directors prompt board resignations and governance review at council-owned and funded company.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
University of Exeter lags behind on female pay and employment terms
HESA figures show poor performance compared with Universities UK members and only incremental changes over past five years, mostly since staff began industrial action over pay, pensions and working conditions.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Stagecoach escapes major sanctions over service failures
Traffic commissioner decides four days of free weekend travel in Exeter Plus ticket zone is sufficient penalty for poor performance despite public inquiry hearing severe criticism of company.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Motor vehicle infrastructure continues to dominate Devon transport spending
New active travel infrastructure to receive just 5% share of capital allocations this year and next, with new roads capital expenditure to increase from 74% to 86%.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Figures show declining Exeter walking and cycling rates as active travel delivery falls by the wayside
County council plans to remove Queen Street active travel infrastructure despite road space reallocation commitments expose equivocal city transport policy aim.
PLANNING & PLACE
Heavitree Road developer gets sixth pitch for student/co-living complex
Eight design iterations, six council meetings, four consultation rounds and two deferrals combine to impede public participation in planning process on key Liveable Exeter site and increase chances of decision being overturned at appeal.
PLANNING & PLACE
Flood risk threatens to sink Haven Banks redevelopment plans
Proposals for 434 rental units accommodating up to 1,167 people on 1.7 hectare Liveable Exeter site would deliver extreme housing densities that deny amenity to prospective occupants while inflicting significant impacts on existing residents.
ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE
Council borrowing nearly triples in three years as property acquisition and development loans mount
Freedom of information request reveals five paragraph "outline business plan" for £55 million Guildhall shopping centre investment.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Bus back better? Exeter services expected to remain unfit for purpose without needed changes
Government underfunding and bus sector challenges limit scope for improvement but county council failure to upgrade routes and policy ambitions plus high housing costs make Exeter difficulties acute, undermining net zero aspirations.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Exeter greenhouse gas report disregards hundreds of thousands of tonnes of annual city emissions
Restricted scope of study misrepresents scale of city's impact to produce partial decarbonisation targets while ignoring opportunities to reduce emissions imported by residents, businesses and visitors, guaranteeing net zero failure.
ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE
Exeter beset by unaffordable housing, low graduate retention and economically inactive over 50's
Exeter City Council executive ignores key challenges flagged in major council-commissioned employment and skills research report.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Alphington "enhancements" will not mitigate traffic impact from massive South West Exeter extension
County council manipulates public consultation and allocates just 1% of £55 million grant to pedestrian scheme while spending 75% on new roads and increased road capacity for 3,500 new cars expected on greenfield housing estate.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
£900,000 to keep Magdalen Road one-way system despite decisive public support for low traffic street
County council misrepresented and omitted key public consultation findings in report and did not publish results until after decision taken in favour of option with only 18% public support. Exeter Observer snapshot survey finds 90%+ motor vehicles passing shops are through traffic.
PLANNING & PLACE
Will Exeter College fence off Exwick community playing fields?
Exeter College redevelopment plans at Exwick and Flowerpot Playing Fields threaten a three metre fence around publicly-accessible playing fields and their replacement with artificial turf. Will it change course after widespread objections?
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Labour councillors appointed to all thirteen city council committee chairs at annual meeting
Council leader falsely claims "overwhelming majority" voted Labour in Exeter local elections while circumvention of council decision-making scrutiny continues.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Greens take three seats from Labour so Progressive Group replaces Conservatives as official opposition
Conservative loss in Topsham among significant vote share changes in 2022 Exeter City Council elections suggesting city's political landscape in flux.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Do Exeter Labour election campaign claims stand up to scrutiny? Coda: Council tax
The last part of our 2022 local elections series is a coda examining Exeter Labour's claim that the city has one of the lowest rates of council tax in the country.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
2022 Exeter local elections guide
City council elections take place on Thursday 5 May. Our essential guide highlights who's standing where, wards to watch and what the results might look like and mean. We also outline their context and explain when, where and how to vote.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Do Exeter Labour election campaign claims stand up to scrutiny? Part III: Climate & environment
The third in our 2022 local elections series examines Exeter Labour claims about climate crisis leadership, renewable energy, recycling, retrofitting and development standards as well as decisions to scrap council and city decarbonisation goals.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Low attendance levels among some councillors mean Exeter electors get varying value for their votes
As part of our 2022 Exeter local elections coverage we have assessed the past year's attendance figures for public council meetings as a measure of councillor commitment to their constituents.
ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE
Do Exeter Labour election campaign claims stand up to scrutiny? Part II: Economy & city centre
The second in our 2022 local elections series examines Exeter Labour claims about the city centre and Exeter's wider economy, including its misrepresentation of content marketing materials as authoritative sources of information about the city.
PLANNING & PLACE
Do Exeter Labour election campaign claims stand up to scrutiny? Part I: Exeter's housing crisis
The first instalment in our 2022 local elections coverage examines Exeter Labour claims related to the housing crisis overtaking the city.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Why does Exeter City Council evade public scrutiny of Exeter City Living property development decisions?
Significant decisions concerning the council-owned company are being taken in secret despite transparency legislation and assurances when it was created, with governance and scrutiny arrangements also potentially putting the council at risk.
PLANNING & PLACE
Council consultants confirm 58% of Exeter's university students live in city's residential housing stock
2021-22 university figures suggest there are now more than 4,500 student HMOs in the city, consistent with ONS findings, with number set to surpass Exeter's council housing provision.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter City Futures secondment decision may be unlawful
Backbench city councillors denied scrutiny call-in powers to challenge controversial decision to send chief executive and senior director to work for private company.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
£55 million Guildhall shopping centre decision may breach local government transparency rules
Exeter City Council decision to purchase and redevelop shopping centre may be unlawful, ineffective and subject to judicial review, increasing already significant commercial investment risks.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Decision to send council CEO and director to work for Exeter City Futures is "disservice to citizens"
City council disregards governance, risk and conflict of interest issues despite cross-party challenges and conflates decarbonisation agenda with property development financing scheme.
PLANNING & PLACE
Pennsylvania petitioners expose fifteen years of flawed student accommodation policy-making
City council policies based on faulty premises, inaccurate information and miscalculated projections have failed to prevent mass student occupation of Exeter residential housing stock despite the proliferation of Purpose Built Student Accommodation across the city.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
County council doubles down on pension fund divestment position
Devon Pension Fund remains committed to fossil fuel investment despite increasingly untenable pension fund committee position that relies on unfounded shareholder influence claims and failure to understand sector position and plans.
PLANNING & PLACE
Exeter City Council approves second Harlequins "co-living" block, sealing fate of Paul Street
Previously rejected vision will now form basis of "abysmal" and "poorly thought through" Liveable Exeter development of 383 "units of accommodation" with increased proportion of substandard studios but reduced economic value to city.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Greens call for evidence-based Exeter carbon budget as city council clings to net zero rhetoric
The Net Zero Exeter plan lacks baseline emissions figures, recognised scope definitions and measurement and reporting frameworks, placing the city's decarbonisation agenda at risk. The opportunity for Exeter to demonstrate genuine climate crisis leadership nevertheless remains.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
PLANNING & PLACE
University drops environmental standards for huge student flats development with council approval
University of Exeter and Exeter City Council both ignore own policies in plans to demolish 30 buildings and construct 50,000m2 of new student accommodation, telling us more about their priorities than their climate leadership claims.
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.
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.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
2021 Exeter local elections guide
Elections for Exeter City Council, Devon County Council and the Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner are taking place in Exeter on 6 May. Our essential election guide highlights wards and divisions to watch, changes taking place and how, when and where to vote.
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 and canal basin.
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.
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".
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.
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.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Is the "Net Zero" Exeter plan fit for purpose?
Exeter City Futures' carbon reduction plan ignores over a million tonnes of carbon emissions and massively underestimates the challenges facing the city.
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.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Exeter rough sleepers in COVID-19 emergency accommodation face uncertain future
Exeter City Council has yet to confirm whether it will use any of the £2.15m Rough Sleeping Initiative funding it has received since 2018 to keep housing rough sleepers when government emergency accommodation funding runs out.
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.
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".
PLANNING & PLACE
Echoes of Exeter's Roman past reveal risks to city's future vision
The unexpected discovery of Roman remains on Exeter's bus station redevelopment site suggests significant risks may also exist for the adjacent Citypoint regeneration scheme.
PLANNING & PLACE
Exeter net zero housing revolution takes root in Chestnut Avenue
Exeter City Council is taking exploratory steps from talking about a zero carbon future to delivering one with a pilot housing project in Wonford.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter & East Devon council accounts delayed by Grant Thornton's "lack of staff resources"
Annual accounts for local government, including Exeter City Council, have been delayed by private sector firms failing to complete their work on time after cost-cutting government auditing reforms.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Conservative vote share varies across Devon but still blocks an Independent MP in East Devon
Labour loses vote share in every constituency, but retains Exeter and Plymouth Sutton & Devonport to leave the county position unchanged from 2017.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
East Devon Independent Claire Wright set to unite Remain voters in close historic two-way contest
Claire Wright is poised to make history by beating the Tories in East Devon next week. If she does it will be without thanks to the LibDems and Greens, who insisted on standing candidates against her despite the preferences of local party members and the Unite to Remain campaign.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
An integrated public transport service for Devon remains a distant aspiration
A change to Exeter's G bus service operator has revealed the limits of Devon County Council's approach to transport system integration.
ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE
Will a new South West industrial strategy deliver what it promises?
Our business-led Local Enterprise Partnership appears committed to a new approach to driving growth which its CEO describes as "game-changing".
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter City Council cuts scrutiny of executive decision-making
Constitutional changes proposed by Exeter City Council will make it more difficult to hold the ruling political group to account.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Exeter youth climate strikers launch Green New Deal for Devon
Fridays For Future Exeter have published a detailed vision of a more equitable future that calls on elected representatives across the county to recognise the climate crisis as a symptom of a dysfunctional political economy.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
We already know what to do about the climate crisis. We must get on with doing it as fast as we can.
Exeter and Devon council leaders must begin rapid regional decarbonisation now. The quickest, cheapest way to cut emissions in Exeter is to deter combustion engines from entering the city. Clean air legislation offers a basis for action.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Caught short - balancing the books in a hurry
Exeter City Council has unapologetically confirmed its decision to close 13 public toilets as a money-saving measure with full knowledge of its expected effect on residents and visitors. Can we expect other spending cuts to be handled the same way?
PLANNING & PLACE
Mount Radford Lawn development proposals conflict with St Leonards community vision
Exeter Deaf Academy hopes to sell a school playing field to developers who plan to build luxury homes. Local residents have other ideas about how best to use the land. A dispute is looming over an historic green space driven by prospective profit from planning gain.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Local resident stands as independent candidate in Exeter elections
Jemima Moore is a 36 year-old part-time primary school teacher and mother of two young children with little political experience. So why has she decided to stand for election to Exeter City Council on 2 May?
PLANNING & PLACE
Clifton Hill sports centre – the background
Storm Emma met the Beast from the East and dumped a huge amount of snow on the roof of Exeter's Clifton Hill sports centre, setting off a chain reaction which has ignited two campaigns and put Exeter City Council's approaches to competence and openness into sharp focus.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
What does your council know that you don't know you don't know?
Extracting information from councils is hard work but increasingly necessary for local democracy.
PLANNING & PLACE
Is the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan GESPing for air?
The Greater Exeter Strategic Plan has been a long time in gestation. When it finally arrives, will it deliver?
News
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.
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
Exeter local elections candidate is also standing in Winchester
University of Exeter student Harry Johnson-Hill hopes to represent voters both in Duryard & St James and at home in Alresford & Itchen Valley, 100 miles away.
Labour councillors again appointed to all thirteen committee chairs at annual council meeting
Council leader finally quits planning committee alongside other remaining Executive member but persists with secret board that enables scrutiny evasion.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
How far does the council leader have to go before he sees a planning committee conflict of interest?
Phil Bialyk led charge against application to develop site 160 yards from his house despite conduct codes and LGA planning probity guidance.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Councillor falsely labels community grants cuts story "misinformation"
Labour's Martin Pearce brands Exeter Observer "opposition propaganda" at full city council meeting, earning rebuke from Lord Mayor and putting council at risk of code of practice breach during pre-election period.
EXETER CITY COUNCIL is inviting reactions to its proposed amendments to its existing planning policy restrictions on the conversion of residential housing to multiple occupancy dwellings, frequently lived by students, near the university. There are exhibitions from 1-7pm on Wednesday 7 June at Exeter Guildhall, 1.30-7pm on Tuesday 13 June at Newtown Community Centre in Belmont Park and 1-7pm on Tuesday 20 June at St James Church Hall in Mount Pleasant Road. Printed copies of its plans will also be available at the Civic Centre and in libraries until the consultation concludes on 3 July.
A public consultation on a draft DEVON, CORNWALL AND ISLES OF SCILLY CLIMATE ADAPTATION STRATEGY which will attempt to minimise the impact of climate change on the South West peninsula is under way until 30 June. The full draft strategy is here. Publication of a revised, final version of the plan is expected in August before partnership organisations will be invited to endorse it during the autumn, four and a half years after Devon County Council convened the Devon Climate Emergency Response Group to “act now to tackle [the] climate emergency”.
On our radar
SATURDAY 10 & SUNDAY 11 JUNE 2023
Exeter Respect Festival 2023
Exeter Respect Festival returns for its 26th year with live music and performance, food stalls, campaigners and community groups.
BELMONT PARK
SATURDAY 10 TO SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2023
Great Big Green Week
A film screening with Q&A, plant swap, climate cafe, litterpick, open mic night, repair cafe, wildflower seed ball workshop and more.
EXETER CLIMATE ACTION HUB
FRIDAY 16 JUNE 2023
Culture for Climate open mic summer edition
Extinction Rebellion Exeter hosts an evening of climate-themed poetry, music and readings.
