Stories about Exeter City Centre
SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2025
Winter Fore Street Flea
Market selling vintage items, handmade craft, food and drink with live music from local artists returns for a winter edition.
FORE STREET
Heavitree Road police station student accommodation and “co-living” scheme consultation extended
Developers revise application for full planning permission for 813-bed seven-block complex submitted in May as similar proposals proliferate across city centre.
Unique retro games arcade to create new Sidwell Street venue after long search
Boneyard arcade seeking permission to change use of empty Brighthouse retail unit after making way for “co-living” block at previous Red Lion Lane location.
Mary Arches “co-living” developer resists “miniscule” room size criticisms as design revisions prompt further consultation
Changes include increased building footprints and removal of twelve rooms to provide eleven communal kitchens – between residents of 297 studios – while gates obstruct pedestrian thoroughfare and site’s historic setting and significance essentially ignored.
Summerland Street “co-living” block build – and £200,000 CIL payment – postponed as council approves phased development
Demolition will secure permanent planning consent but leave city centre site in limbo with subsequent construction start date unknown.
Council denies data and contrives criteria to dismiss community balance concerns in third King Billy student block approval
Exeter Observer analysis finds more students living in city centre than residents as council bid to include PBSA in housing delivery figures weakens local planning policy – but does not remove it from decision-making altogether.
, updated