Social Value Ideas for Exeter City Council

Refusal of open space housing scheme

Members concluded that the proposed development on protected open space should be refused. The discussion centred on conflict with the development plan, loss of openness, conservation area harm, desig…

“I'm going to avoid the use of the word green field because that in itself is an emotive term. Instead, I'm simply going to say that this site has been…”

Heritage and green space harms

Members and the officer highlighted the site's location in a conservation area and the harm caused by developing a protected open space. Concerns included loss of openness, tree impact, widening of th…

“This site is in a conservation area. The site will be further urbanized through the expanse of hard landscaping and the widening of the gateway result…”

Complete section 106 before approval

Officers said the recommendation to approve was subject to completion of the section 106 agreement, with authority to refuse if the agreement was not completed in time. They also noted various plannin…

“There is a supplementary party of the 106 is not completed to give um to give officers the power to refuse the application if the section 106 agreemen…”

Reasons for refusal delegated

After the vote to refuse, members agreed to delegate authority to the chair to approve the officers' final reasons for refusal. Officers said this would avoid a further deferral and allow refusal to b…

“Um, the one thing that we we do need to make sure we're clear about is process following on from uh you've given us clear steer on on the reasons and …”

Section 106 package secured

The applicant’s planning obligations package was discussed in detail, including a sports pitch contribution, an NHS/GP surgery contribution, biodiversity mitigation, and over £1 million for off-site a…

“So the the key funding issues are set out in the report highlight some it talks about principal development as greenfield site within the urban area i…”

Updated housing land supply removes tilted balance

Officers advised that a new five-year housing land supply statement had been published shortly before the meeting, which meant the tilted balance no longer applied. The application therefore had to be…

“So draw members attention. There is a an update sheet, an additional information sheet circulated to head of Steven's committee with an additional rep…”

Draft refusal reasons

The committee asked officers to draft robust reasons for refusal reflecting the main concerns raised in debate, with emphasis on conservation area harm, loss of open space, design scale and massing, a…

“If members are not minded not to follow the officer recommendation which is fairly evident from the from the debate. Uh it would be helpful to identif…”

Five-year supply shifts test

Members noted that the updated five-year housing land supply position changed the decision framework from the tilted balance to the ordinary planning balance. This affected the overall assessment of t…

“We have also had confirmed that the five-year housing land supply now means we do not have a tilted balance against. So one has to look very carefully…”

Heritage harm weighed against benefits

The committee heard repeated arguments that the site lies within a conservation area and that the proposal would erode openness and character. Officers maintained the harm was less than substantial an…

“The the key funding issues are set out in the report highlight some it talks about principal development as greenfield site within the urban area in t…”

Parking order consultation for Cathedral and Key

The council is consulting on changes to the parking places order for Cathedral and Key, including moving it from zone 2 to zone 1 and extending charging to 10 p.m. The changes are tied to the wider ca…

“members will recall that we brought a report uh to the last executive seeking uh to go out to consultation on the parking places order. Um that was ne…”

£2.5m refurbishment programme

The council plans to bring Cathedral and Key car park back into use through a major capital investment of about £2.5 million. The refurbishment is presented as necessary to improve the asset, support …

“in readiness for next Tuesday when we uh propose uh an additional budget of two half million pounds uh for the enhancement and improvement of of Cathe…”

Executive backs in-house model

The executive ultimately preferred option B, keeping management in-house rather than awarding an external contract. Members argued this would preserve local control, staff terms and conditions, flexib…

“The preferred option that we would um choose is the B option that the management is carried out in house by the council through increasing staffing cl…”

Car park management contract

The executive considered procuring an external operator to manage Cathedral and Key once it becomes a pay-on-foot car park. The officer said a proper local authority procurement exercise would be requ…

“The team have looked at two options. Uh the first option being to externalize the management of the car park. That's not an outsourcing of the car par…”

£260k match funding for RAM bid

The council agreed budget allocation of £260,000 as match funding for a MEND round six application to Arts Council England. If successful, this would unlock £2.4m of external funding for museum infras…

“So what we're seeking your approval for this evening is budget allocation of 260,000 as a contribution or match funding towards the what's called amen…”

Urgent boiler and chiller risk

Officers warned that the museum’s boiler and water chiller system were nearing end of life and could fail at any moment. If failure occurred before the grant outcome, the council said it would need to…

“Of course, with any funding application, there's no guarantee of success. And also, as we've set out in the report, particularly the boiler, but also …”

Museum decarbonisation commitment

Members confirmed that the preferred scheme would remove gas from the museum and replace it with reversible air source heat pumps and backup electric boiler arrangements. The project is explicitly fra…

“So definitely no gas. I'll I'll let Joseph explain in a bit more detail.”

Submit MEND bid next week

Officers said the full MEND application had already passed the expression-of-interest stage and would be finalised with the team on Thursday before submission next week. They also said they would repo…

“We've already passed the first stage, which was to submit an expression of interest to Arts Council England. And then as a result of that, Arts Counci…”