Exeter has more empty and second homes than built in city in past two years
Council tax premium proposals that aim to raise additional revenue from underused housing stock might also encourage return to residential occupancy.
PLANNING & PLACE
30,000 students based at Exeter university campuses in 2022-23
Freedom of information request reveals significant drop on last year with postgraduate students accounting for 58% of fall in numbers.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Underperforming county council children's services to receive nearly half of proposed spending increases
Details of simultaneous £50 million 2023-24 spending reductions not yet published as finance director cites service delivery "re-prioritisation".
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Historic nurses strike goes ahead after government refuses to negotiate over pay
Royal College of Nursing members out in force at Exeter NHS trusts alongside colleagues across the country as recruitment crisis threatens profession.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
South West Water performance remains among worst in sector as it falls further behind targets
Regulator highlights "sustained poor performance" after serious pollution incidents nearly triple and Environment Agency condemns company in annual assessment.
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
University of Exeter staff strike in largest walkout in sector history
Dispute over pay, pensions and working conditions continues as universities generate record income.
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 holds public consultation on 1,700 bed West Park redevelopment design
Outline plans to demolish 30 buildings and construct 50,000m2 of student accommodation on fifteen acre Streatham campus site did not comply with university or council environmental policies.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Climate Action Hub opens in Exeter city centre
A dedicated climate crisis information and resource centre is opening on 25 November in an empty Princesshay retail unit to provide events, meeting space, film screenings and drop-in advice and support.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Pinhoe, St Loye's and Topsham all in new Exeter East and Exmouth constituency under revised changes
Final boundary commission consultation follows city council proposal to move marginal Pinhoe to safe Conservative seat and keep Priory Labour stronghold 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.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Stagecoach proposes free travel and fast-tracked information upgrades to compensate for service failures
West of England traffic commissioner holds Exeter's principal bus operator to account at public inquiry, with final decision on performance expected this week.
PLANNING & PLACE
First Exeter "co-living" block comes on stream with rooms at £946pcm+
Even "affordable" rooms in six storey 133-unit Gladstone Road block would leave many local key workers living below minimum income threshold.
PLANNING & PLACE
Council paves way for 186-bed "co-living" block in Summerland Street
Freedom of information request reveals intended scale of development after executive committee takes decision behind closed doors.
PLANNING & PLACE
St James HMO conversion refusal overturned at appeal
Council failed to provide sufficient evidence to support 2012 planning policy introduced to limit impact of student occupation of residential housing stock.
PLANNING & PLACE
Progressive Group planning enforcement proposal adopted despite public Labour rejection
Newly-published register also reveals council has issued as many planning enforcement notices in the past three months as it has in the past three years.
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.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Exeter City Council abandons city 2030 decarbonisation "ambition"
Unannounced decision to exclude scope 3 emissions constituting around 43% of Exeter's carbon footprint from "net zero" plans effectively ensures city will not meet its decarbonisation goals.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Ukrainian refugee support hub opens in Exeter city centre
Conversation Café pop-up offers information, resources, events and meeting space to help cut through the confusion surrounding the Homes for Ukraine scheme and enable Devon's response to the crisis.
PLANNING & PLACE
Individual overseas ownership of Exeter property triples in ten years
350% rise greater than in Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster, increasing housing costs, reducing home ownership levels and harming housing affordability.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Exeter decarbonisation plans found wanting in nationwide council climate action plan study
Somerset West and Taunton highest scoring local authority area with East Devon in third place nationally in comprehensive Climate Emergency UK analysis.
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.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
500 march in Reclaim the Night protest against sexual violence and harassment on Exeter streets
Annual event promoting public awareness of male violence against women and girls in public spaces coincides with international human rights campaigns.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Exe Estuary wildlife refuges succeed in increasing bird numbers
Three year monitoring study confirms introduction of protected spaces has resulted in greater numbers of wildfowl using internationally important Dawlish Warren and Exmouth sites.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
First St Thomas winter market brings festival feel to "overlooked" area of Exeter
A community-run event at St Thomas Church combines artisan traders with music, storytelling and craft workshops to create a family-friendly festival atmosphere.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
COP-EXE event showcases local responses to global climate crisis
Exeter city centre venues host exhibitions promoting local action to mitigate the climate crisis in tandem with the COP26 conference in Glasgow.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Stagecoach strike to take place following failed pay negotiations
Transport union RMT says Stagecoach pay offer is unsatisfactory and demands better conditions as staff shortages threaten services.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Proposed Exeter parliamentary constituency changes pit Priory against Pinhoe
City council responds to boundary commission consultation by proposing Conservative East Devon takes marginal Pinhoe and city keeps Priory Labour stronghold instead.
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.
ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE
Exeter workers to be among hardest hit by £20 cut in universal credit
Analysis shows proportion of benefit claimants in Exeter in work is among highest in country.
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.
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.
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.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Kinder Exeter community festival brings compassion and colour to city centre
Week-long event bringing artists, academics, students and communities together for online and outdoor activities was first of planned annual festivals facilitated by Maketank artists' collective.
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
Devon Carbon Plan consultation finds majority want net zero by 2030
Devon Climate Emergency Response Group questions whether 2030 "realistic" and suggests "palatable" compromise while only 13% of consultees support UK government's 2050 target.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
High Court rules council meetings must resume in person after local elections
Case seeking judgement to allow local authority meetings to continue remotely when temporary coronavirus regulations expire fails to override requirement for primary legislation.
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%.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Independent county councillor Claire Wright stands down
First elected to Ottery St Mary Town Council in 2009, the parliamentary candidate for East Devon in 2015 and 2017 also served on East Devon District Council for four years and Devon County Council for eight years.
PLANNING & PLACE
Developer plans to convert retail units in Exeter city centre block to additional student bedrooms
Conversion of five of eleven shop/leisure units at The Depot in Cheeke Street would add nineteen rooms to existing 715 bedrooms in monolithic PBSA.
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
Atmospheric concentration of CO2 now 50% above pre-industrial levels
Met Office says 2021 will be first year on record in which symbolic threshold breached for more than a few days as UK prepares to host COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
ARTS & CULTURE
Top floor of former Debenhams store to be converted into cinema
Princesshay owner's proposals for change of use to four screen cinema and cafe/bar have been under discussion since November 2019.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Door to door campaigning for May local elections to go ahead after all
Government announces relaxation of coronavirus restrictions on election canvassing from next Monday 8 March in step with planned lockdown rule changes.
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.
ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE
Exeter Science Park STEMM "grow-out building" construction begins
A new specialist centre for fast-growth Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths & Medicine businesses will be completed by November 2021.
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.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
University research consortium launches "Accelerate to Net Zero" project
The GW4 Alliance of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities has launched a collaborative project aimed at accelerating decarbonisation across South West England and Wales.
PLANNING & PLACE
University plans to demolish 30 buildings to construct ~50,000m2 of new student accommodation
Permission sought for 1,250 new bedrooms on fifteen acre Streatham campus Clydesdale and Birks development site, half as large again as 1,200 bedroom East Park development.
PLANNING & PLACE
Renewed permission sought for Longbrook Street student block
Developers are seeking to renew previously-granted planning permission for an eight storey 108-bed student accommodation block on the site of the King Billy public house.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Hospital creates parking for 200 cars despite city climate crisis goals
Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital says new parking "temporary" but no end-date given in planning application and no hard evidence of need provided.
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".
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Exeter City Council accepts climate emergency plan to make city carbon neutral by 2030
Chief Executive warns that resourcing the plan is "problematic" given COVID-19 financial challenges and that lack of resources limits the council's capacity for immediate practical action.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Devon County Council fails to deliver promised COVID-19 cycling and walking infrastructure
Deadline for action on social distancing for safe travel set by county cabinet member passes despite Devon receiving £1.7 million share of government emergency fund.
TRANSPORT & MOBILITY
Coronavirus halts decision to spend £3.9 million on car park repairs and upgrade
Exeter City Council spending plans will be revisited in June at same time as Net Zero Exeter carbon reduction plan is discussed by Executive.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Exeter rough sleepers night shelter to open all year round
Exeter City Council has approved plans to extend Magdalen Street night shelter opening from April to the end of September.
PLANNING & PLACE
Cranbrook town centre community building application submitted
Devon County Council is to develop new town centre facilities including a children's centre with public health nursing provision, youth centre with indoor and outdoor recreational spaces and library with small café.
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.
ECONOMY & ENTERPRISE
Half of COVID-19 support grants unclaimed by Exeter businesses
Exeter City Council in bottom third of local authorities as only 45% of eligible local businesses claim government coronavirus support money.
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
Exeter library children's horse to keep on rocking!
A crowdfunding appeal has successfully raised £1000 to repair Exeter Central library's popular rocking horse, Jubilee Beauty.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Conservatives hold Topsham in Exeter city council by-election
A by-election held on general election day produced an unusually high turnout but a lower Conservative vote share than at the May local elections.
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.
DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE
Exeter Labour support collapses in Heavitree & Whipton Barton county by-election
Greg Sheldon wins Devon County Council division by just 40 votes after Labour loses nearly a fifth of its previous vote share.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Thousands march in Exeter for global climate strike as millions mobilise worldwide
Fridays for Future Exeter led 3500 people on a climate crisis demonstration through the city backed by dozens of organisations on the eve of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.
COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
Education union challenges university to address widespread casualisation of teaching staff
Exeter University & College Union (UCU) launched an anti-casualisation campaign on Friday as a prelude to negotiation with the University of Exeter over academic staff contracts.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Mock funeral march brings Exeter city centre to a sombre standstill
Extinction Rebellion campaigners brought the gravity of the ecological emergency home to Exeter on Saturday in a funereal procession commemorating wildlife loss caused by climate change.
ARTS & CULTURE
Preston Street Union rolls out the red carpet
The Exeter-based artists explore migration driven by the city's historic wool trade in new work commissioned by RAMM.
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.
Today around 70 people joined the Exeter branch of Extinction Rebellion on the city's streets to demand urgent action to minimise the risk of catastrophic impacts from climate change.
ARTS & CULTURE
Out of sight, out of mind
A performance of From The Light of The Fire, Our Dancing Shadows in Exeter for Kaleider Mikrofest appears to favour illusion over truth in a confused rendering of Plato's cave allegory that leaves both performers and audience in the dark.
Analysis
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.
Council development levy changes are insufficiently evidenced and don't meet city infrastructure needs
Exeter City Council and Liveable Exeter partners impose faulty typology driven by policy objectives while ignoring new local plan, evidence base and statutory funding statement and excluding residential and retail charges from review.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Is the grass really greener in Exeter city centre?
Academic research placing Exeter retail area at top of green space table was nationally reported, locally misrepresented then repurposed as booster fuel by local politicians overlooking study's social justice focus.
PLANNING & PLACE
Will council seek investment zone status for Liveable Exeter sites?
Government growth plans combine tax breaks with planning deregulation, putting affordable housing provision and environmental protections at risk with little evidence that promised investment zone benefits would result.
