A discussion led by University of Exeter climate scientist James Dyke on tackling the climate crisis.
EXETER COMMUNITY CENTRE
ANALYSIS
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.
SATURDAY 11 MARCH 2023
International Women's Festival
A free one day festival celebrating women with live music, dance, poetry, talks, art, food and more.
EXETER PHOENIX
SATURDAY 4 MARCH 2023
Climate Fresk
An interactive workshop explaining the science behind climate change.
CLIMATE ACTION HUB
THURSDAY 30 MARCH 2023
Compline: A contemplative journey through Lent
Performances of plainchant and polyphony with prayers at St Olave's church.
ST OLAVE'S CHURCH
NEWS
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.
TUESDAY 14 MARCH 2023
The Forgotten Quarter
An evening talk exploring the Mint Lane area between the first and second world wars.
ST NICHOLAS PRIORY
FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2023
The Oil Machine
A free film screening and panel discussion with Dr James Dyke
CLIMATE ACTION HUB
MONDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2023
PRISM Exeter speaker series
LGBTQIA+ people share their experiences working in STEMM as part of this year's LGBT+ History Month.
EXETER LIBRARY
SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2023
Seed Bank seed swap
Inaugural event also features talks on composting, fermentation and reducing kitchen waste with stalls, displays and activities.
MAKETANK
SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2023
Flow Orchard wassail
Traditional music and song, story and celebration with apple juice and cider round an open fire.
TREWS WEIR ORCHARD
TUESDAY 10 JANUARY 2023
Extinction Rebellion 100 days campaign
Exeter event is first step towards April gathering of 100,000 people in Parliament Square.
CLIMATE ACTION HUB
ANALYSIS
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.
NEWS
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.
FRIDAY 13 JANUARY 2023
From Townhouse to Tenements
An evening talk and tour with performances explores the 19th century history of Exeter's oldest building.
ST NICHOLAS PRIORY
ANALYSIS
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.
NEWS
University of Exeter staff strike in largest walkout in sector history
Dispute over pay, pensions and working conditions continues as universities generate record income.
SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2023
Seed Bank workshops
Monthly sessions preparing seeds for the first ever Exeter Seed Bank seed swap.
EXETER PHOENIX
THURSDAY 1 DECEMBER 2022
Sourdough bread-making and shaping
St Sidwell's Community Centre is running a winter evening sourdough and rye bread-making class.
SIDWELL STREET BAKEHOUSE
NEWS
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.
SATURDAY 3 DECEMBER 2022
St Leonard's Christmas Fair
Community-run market returns for eleventh year with festive food, music and gifts.
MAGDALEN ROAD
SUNDAY 20 NOVEMBER 2022
Greenpeace town hall
Greenpeace Exeter is screening a short film and hosting a discussion on the cost of living and climate crises.
EXETER COMMUNITY CENTRE
SATURDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2022
St Thomas winter market returns
Community-run event combines artisan traders with music, entertainment and workshops to create family-friendly festival atmosphere.
ST THOMAS CHURCH
SUNDAY 30 OCTOBER 2022
Kidical Mass Halloween special
Kidical Mass Exeter is holding its fourth family bike ride as part of an ongoing campaign for safe cycling routes for children, young people and families.
NORTHERNHAY GARDENS
THURSDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2022
Sourdough pizza and pitta-making by night
St Sidwell's Community Centre is running autumn evening sourdough bread-making classes.
SIDWELL STREET BAKEHOUSE
SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER 2022
March of the Mummies
Campaigning charity Pregnant Then Screwed is holding a national Halloween-themed childcare protest march.
COUNTY HALL
THURSDAY 13 OCTOBER 2022
Sourdough bread-making by night
St Sidwell's Community Centre is running autumn evening sourdough pizza and pitta-making classes.
SIDWELL STREET BAKEHOUSE
SUNDAY 2 OCTOBER 2022
Herbal history, folklore & medicine
Exeter Seed Bank is holding a workshop exploring common local herbs and plants with medical herbalist Ile Ashcroft.
EXETER PHOENIX
SATURDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2022
Kidical Mass is back
Kidical Mass Exeter is holding its third family bike ride and picnic as part of an ongoing campaign for safe cycling routes for children, young people and families.
NORTHERNHAY GARDENS
SATURDAY 30 JULY 2022
Sidwella day celebration
Devon Voice Group is co-hosting a celebration of Exeter's patron saint, the city's heritage and Devonian culture and dialect.
ST SIDWELL'S COMMUNITY CENTRE
SATURDAY 9 JULY 2022
Kidical Mass returns to Exeter in July
Kidical Mass Exeter is holding its second family bike ride and picnic as part of an ongoing global campaign for safe cycling routes for children, young people and families.
BELMONT PARK
MONDAY 27 JUNE 2022
PRISM Exeter Pride month queer science celebration
Devon network champions LGBTQIA+ STEMM contributors and the impact they have had on young people in queer science competition.
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
SUNDAY 15 MAY 2022
Kidical Mass comes to Exeter
Kidical Mass Exeter is holding its first family bike ride and picnic as part of a global campaign for safe cycling routes for children, young people and families.
BELMONT PARK
SATURDAY 11-SUNDAY 12 JUNE 2022
Exeter Respect Festival 2022
Exeter Respect Festival returns to Belmont Park for its 25th anniversary with live music and performance, food stalls, campaigners and community groups.
BELMONT PARK
SATURDAY 14 MAY 2022
Exeter Pride 2022
Exeter Pride returns for an in-person celebration of LGBTQIA+ diversity and visibility after moving online in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NORTHERNHAY GARDENS
SUNDAY 8 MAY 2022
Fore Street Flea
Fore Street Flea market returns for an Exeter Pride-themed special event.
FORE STREET
SUNDAY 8 MAY 2022
Traditional Italian music and dance
Exeter Italian Cultural Association is holding a workshop exploring the folk traditions of Southern Italy in music, dance and song with Trikkeballakke and La Tarantella.
ST JAMES' CHURCH
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
SATURDAY 31 JULY 2021
St Sid's holds double celebration of community centre's 20th anniversary and Sidwella Day
Local residents are invited to an afternoon of live music, good food, heritage tours and garden discovery trail in honour of Sidwella, Exeter's patron saint.
ST SIDWELL'S COMMUNITY CENTRE
NEWS
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.
NOTES & SKETCHES
No Exeter Pride parade this year
Exeter Pride has confirmed that there would be no Pride march, festival or marketplace this year...
ANALYSIS
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.
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
Transport & Mobility
ANALYSIS
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.
ANALYSIS
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.
ANALYSIS
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%.
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.
NEWS
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.
COMMENT
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.
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.
NEWS
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.
NEWS
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.
Exeter City Council's approach to decision-making is damaging local democracy
Separation of powers and transparency provisions intended to safeguard public interest being subverted while council defies auditor over loss-making company.
NEWS
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".
ANALYSIS
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.
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.
ANALYSIS
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.
ANALYSIS
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.
