Help shape Exeter’s future by visiting new exhibition

Published: 29 September 2021

People are being invited to attend the first public exhibition on a new Local Plan for Exeter and how to shape the city’s future.

An exhibition takes place on Thursday (30 September) between 1pm and 7pm at Exeter Central Library in the Rougemont Room. Everyone is invited to attend.

Exeter City Council recently launched the first round of a public consultation. Another exhibition is planned for the middle of October.

The Local Plan sets out to provide a vision for the city’s future up to 2040.  In doing so, the Local Plan will need to address a raft of important planning issues including how the city responds to the climate emergency, where new homes are built and how new jobs are provided.

The Plan will also look at how to protect and enhance the city’s historic and natural environments, how high streets and communities can continue to thrive and how everyone gets about the city.

Public consultation will also begin on a second document – a Statement of Community Involvement - which proposes how the City Council will involve the community when preparing planning policies and making decisions on planning applications.  

The Local Plan lies at the heart of the planning system and will guide the development of housing, the economy, community facilities, and infrastructure in Exeter for the next twenty years. 

Cllr Emma Morse, Lead Councillor for City Development, said: “The Plan also sets out clear messages for how we combat climate change and improve our environment. It’s vital that local people, businesses, community groups and stakeholders have their say in shaping the Local Plan and Statement of Community Involvement, so that the documents reflect what you want our city to look like and how you want to engage with the planning process in order to achieve that.” 

To get involved in the consultations, local residents, businesses, community groups and statutory consultees are encouraged to:

• Visit the Local plan page of the City Council website or the SCI page where the Local Plan Issues Consultation Document and draft Statement of Community Involvement can be viewed and responded to online;
• Find out more information by attending public exhibitions to be held on: Thursday 30 September from 1pm to 7pm at Exeter Central Library, Rougemont Room, Castle Street, Exeter, EX4 3PQ; and Wednesday 13 October from 1pm to 7pm at the Guildhall, 203 High Street, Exeter, EX4 3EB.

The consultation documents can also be viewed during opening hours at Exeter City Council’s Customer Service Centre in the Civic Centre (Paris Street, Exeter, EX1 1JN) and Exeter Central Library (Castle Street, Exeter, EX4 3PQ).    

For more information, or to respond to the consultations in a different way from online, please email planning.policy@exeter.gov.uk or telephone 01392 265080.  Please also use these contacts to be kept informed of progress on the new Local Plan without responding to the current consultations.

The consultations run until 15 November.  Further rounds of public consultation on the new Local Plan are planned for 2022 and 2023, before it is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination.