Agenda and draft minutes

To approve and sign the minutes of the ordinary meeting held on 22 July 2025 and the Extraordinary meeting held on 14 August 2025.

The minutes of the Ordinary meeting of the Council held on the 22^nd July 2025 were moved by the Lord Mayor, taken as read, approved and signed as correct following an amendment to the role of Councillor Knott at that meeting.

The minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of the Council held on 14 August 2025, were moved by the Lord Mayor, taken as read, approved, and signed as correct.

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item. Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made by Members.

It is considered that the Council would be unlikely to exclude the press and public during consideration of any of the items on the agenda, but if it should wish to do so, the following resolution should be passed:-

RECOMMENDED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of the particular item(s) on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Lord Mayor confirmed that there were no Part 2 items on the agenda.

The Lord Mayor advised that she had attended the following since the last meeting of the Council:

• Women’s Rugby World Cup (WRWC) welcome ceremony for the French and Italian rugby teams at Exeter Cathedral;
• hosted the New Zealand Black Ferns at the Guildhall for Devon Cream Tea and Morris dancing;
• the unveiling of the yarn bombing at both the Guildhall and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum; and
• a special reception to mark the 80^th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day (VJ Day).

The Lord Mayor thanked Exeter City Council staff for their hard work in launching the WRWC fan zone in Princesshay.

The Lord Mayor also advised that she had received a letter from the Mayor of Stone Harbour, New Jersey, who had written to her with thanks for meeting with two of his constituents.

The Lord Mayor also received that from His Majesty’s Vice Lord Lieutenant, Rear Admiral Chris Snow CBE DL, who thanked the Lord Mayor for invitations to both the VJ Day reception, and the Rugby World Cup.

Councillors are advised that a Extraordinary Meeting of the Council will be held on the rising of the ordinary meeting of Council on 14 October 2025, in accordance with Section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972, to consider conferring the title of Honorary Alderman on Mr Graham John Prowse, commonly referred to as Percy Prowse.

In the opinion of the Council, he has rendered eminent services to the Council as a past member of Exeter City Council and formal resolution will be considered at that meeting, and a two-thirds majority of members present and voting will be required for the resolution to pass.

The Lord Mayor informed Members that an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council had been scheduled for the 14^th October 2025, on the rising of the ordinary meeting. This meeting had been scheduled for the proposed appointment of Mr Graham John Prowse, as an Honorary Alderman.

To receive questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and responses thereto.

Details of questions should be notified to Democratic Services by 10.00am at least three working days prior to the meeting. Further information about speaking at a committee can be found here: Speaking at a Committee

The Lord Mayor advised Members that two questions had been received from members of the public.

Question from Mr James Diamond:

“Please can you list the cycling schemes that were delivered under Measure 6 of th Exeter Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) 2019-2024, to contribute to the target of 12% of work journeys by bike and address illegal air pollution levels?”

Response from Councillor Bialyk, Leader:

“Measure 6 of the Air Quality Action Plan is one that is the responsibility of Devon County Council as the Highways Authority.

A list of the main strategic routes that contributed to measure 6 will be provided for inclusion with the minutes, however, there will have been other more localised enhancements conducted that would not be listed.

As this matter is a Devon County Council Highways responsibility, further specific questions relating to the cycle network should be directed to them as the appropriate body responsible.”

Mr Diamond asked a supplementary question for clarification that the list would definitely be published with the minutes, and the Leader clarified that it would be.

Question from Mr Edward Pickering:

“In June, the City Council committed to writing to DCC about the ECC School Streets motion by the end of the Summer Term to arrange a meeting with DCC. What was the outcome of the meeting?”

Response from Councillor Bialyk, Leader:

“Exeter City Council wrote to Devon County Council in July, and a positive and constructive meeting was held between officers in August to explore a collaborative approach to School Streets in Exeter.

Devon County Council have identified a significant budget for the 20256/26 Schools Streets programme and officers from the Council’s Live & Move team will work with the DCC sustainable travel team to develop a programme/

A criteria is being drawn up to identify which schools are ready and meet the necessary conditions to deliver a School Street, and Exeter City Council will work with Devon County Council to approach pilot schools in the autumn term.”

In a supplementary question, the member of the public asked what the timetable was for something happening in terms of concrete action. The Leader stated in response that the answer rested with Devon County Council and the Exeter City Council Live & Move team.

The minutes of the Special Customer Focus Scrutiny Committee of 23 June 2025 were presented by the Chair, Councillor Rees, and taken as read.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Special Customer Focus Scrutiny Committee held on 23 June be received.

The minutes of the Customer Focus Scrutiny Committee of 3 July 2025 were presented by the Chair, Councillor Rees, and taken as read.

In regard to Minute No.67 Question from Members of the Council under Standing Orders No.20 Councillor Rees clarified that Councillor R Williams had not meant the roll out would extend into the 2026/2027 financial year.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Customer Focus Scrutiny Committee held on 3 July 2025 be received.

Links to the Committee report and appendices are appended to Minutes.

The minutes of the Special Audit and Governance of 17 July 2025 were presented by the Chair, Councillor Wardle, and taken as read.

In respect of Minute No.66 Amendments to Terms of Reference for the Joint Consultation and Negotiation Committee, Councillor Wardle moved and Councillor Payne seconded the recommendation which following a vote was CARRIED.

In respect of Minute No.67 Constitutional Changes, Councillor Wardle moved, and Councillor Payne seconded the recommendation, which following a vote was CARRIED.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Special Audit and Governance Committee held on 17 July 2025 be received.

Links to the Committee report and appendix are appended to Minutes.

The minutes of the Audit and Governance Committee of 24 July 2025 were presented by the Chair, Councillor Wardle, and taken as read.

In respect of Minute No.71 Annual Governance Statement, Councillor Wardle moved and Councillor Payne seconded the recommendation, which following a vote was CARRIED.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 24 July 2025 be received.

The minutes of the Planning Committee of 4 August were presented by the Chair, Councillor Knott, and taken as read.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Planning Committee of 4 August 2025 be received, following amendments raised by Councillor Ketchin.

The minutes of the Executive Committee of 12 August 2025 were presented by the Leader, Councillor Bialyk, and taken as read.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Executive Committee held on the 12 August 2025 be received.

To consider the report of the Strategic Director for Corporate Resources.

The Strategic Director Corporate Resources introduced this report, and responded to Members questions in the following terms:

• Kivells leased from Exeter City Council, so the money was appropriately coming from the council;
• the refund had not been accounted for in the budget;
• he could not confirm at this stage when the MRF project would be completed but he would speak to the Head of Service and update Members;
• the debt write off process was dependent on the amount of the debt;
• Exeter City Council could only use bailiffs for council tax, but could use debt recovery agents for other forms of debt;
• the Council had recently strengthened the income collection and the legal teams; and
• car parks would be included in the model going forward.

During the debate, Councillor Fullam asked the Leader the following:

“On 8.4, is there expected to be any improvement on recruitment and retention across the range of services with vacancies?

Is there limited expectation of resolving recruitment issues before the timescale of LGR, are there interim plans by department for reduced service delivery to avoid undue stress on remaining staff and excessive agency costs?

If so, can Members be made aware of the specific services being reduced?”

The Leader responded in the following terms:

“Within our Human Resources Improvement Plan we have a focus on reviewing and modernising our approach to recruitment with a particular emphasis on those areas that are harder to recruit to. We have had notable success is filling vacancies and areas traditional regarded as “difficult to recruit to” with permanent staff e.g. in planning, environmental health and digital and data. Within the Operations Directorate there are long standing issues with recruiting and retaining permanent staff working on frontline waste services in particular largely due to the relatively high employment rate in Exeter. However, our HR and operational reviews (Rapid Impact Project) have highlighted a number of opportunities to modernise our approach to recruitment and work is underway to design and pilot new approaches tailored to the target employment market in these frontline roles.

Whilst there are no guarantees, we have high expectations that we will resolve these recruitment issues in the medium term. In the meantime, we have already instigate a number of actions which are standardising the rates we pay agency staff, reducing overall spend on agency staff, limiting the length of temporary agency contracts and raising the quality of employment terms and conditions for agency workers. We are doing this by using an agency recruitment framework (Comensura) across all parts of the council. Spend and use of agency staff is monitored monthly by the Senior Management Board and authority to recruit temporary staff requires Strategic Director approval.

The Strategic Director for Operations was working with Heads of Services on a continual basis to introduce productivity and efficiency gains within the service area following the independent research conducted as part of the Rapid Impact project work SMB have been undertaking since last year. Should there be a need to reduce  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.

To consider the report of the Strategic Director for Corporate Resources.

The Strategic Director Corporate Resources introduced this report and responded to Members questions in the following terms:

• the new pay and display equipment were needed in the John Lewis and Guildhall car parks as the software would no longer be supported by the company; and
• the BLRF money that had be allocated to the canal basin and Belle Isle could not be reallocated to another site.

During debate Councillor Wetenhall asked the Leader:

“Regarding the Pinhoe Community Hub CIL allocation of £1,276,470, in Appendix 1, on page 115, could the Leader confirm whether or not the full amount of the CIL allocation will be drawn down within this financial year?”

Councillors Wood and Hussain declared an interest as Trustees of the Pinhoe Community Hub and left the chamber.

The Leader responded to Councillor Wetenhall in the following terms:

• he was unsure at this time;
• the discussions were with the community;
• the commitment Exeter City Council made to the residents of Pinhoe was still there; and
• there was no cut off and he hope that Pinhoe community could bring forward their proposal.

The Leader moved, and Councillor Wright seconded the recommendations of the report, which following a vote were CARRIED.

Councillors Wood and Hussain returned to the meeting, following the vote.

To consider the report of the Strategic Director for Corporate Resources.

The Strategic Director Corporate Resources officer introduced the report.

The Leader moved, and Councillor Wright seconded the recommendations of the report, which following a unanimous vote were CARRIED.

Motion: Rivers 2 and transparency template.

Proposer: Cllr Tess Read

Seconder: Cllr James Banyard

Councillor Read moved, and Councillor Banyard seconded a Notice of Motion in the following terms:

“This Council notes that:

Increasing dialogue and working with relevant stakeholders is the key to improving water quality to benefit all Exeter residents and wildlife.

This government has made improving river quality a key priority. The Environment Secretary MP Steve Reed has pledged that sewage pollution from water companies will be cut in half by the end of the decade. “The Government, in partnership with investors, has secured funding to rebuild the entire water network to clean up our rivers with a record of £104 billion being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and build new sewage treatment works cutting sewage pollution into rivers.”

In July 2019 Exeter declared a climate emergency, and this was strengthened in April 2021 by including biodiversity. The Exe Estuary has the highest protection status afforded to it and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area because it supports internationally important populations of birds. The Council has an obligation to protect its rivers and the City Council’s Harbour Board has, as one of its core values “We will lead on environmental stewardship of the Port.”

South Hams District Council recently voted unanimously to request SWW use the Friends of the River Dart’s “Transparency Template” to record all information regarding infrastructure upgrades so that progress to improved systems can be easily understood and communicated to the public. The Transparency Template is an easy to understand pro-forma which SWW is requested to complete to detail all of their pieces of infrastructure in the region, their capacity and method of filtration, and the timetable for upgrade. The FORE Transparency Template is attached, SWW completing this will enable the public to easily understand SWW’s planned investment in its infrastructure and so can track progress to better water quality.

This Council resolves that:

The Leader of the Council/Chief Executive write to the Chairman of the Pennon Group and request that SWW complete the FORE Transparency Template for each piece of their infrastructure in the Exe and her catchment.”

An amendment to the motion was proposed by Councillor R Williams, seconded by Councillor Vizard, in the following terms:

This Council notes that:

Increasing dialogue and working with relevant stakeholders was the key to improving water quality to benefit all Exeter residents and wildlife.

This government has made improving river quality a key priority. The Environment Secretary MP Steve Reed has pledged that sewage pollution from water companies will be cut in half by the end of the decade. “The Government, in partnership with investors, has secured funding to rebuild the entire water network to clean up our rivers with a record £104 billion being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and build new sewage treatment works cutting sewage pollution into rivers.”

In July 2019 Exeter declared a climate emergency, and this was strengthened in April 2021 by including biodiversity. The Exe Estuary has the highest protection status afforded to it and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

To receive questions from Members on any matter for which the Council has powers, duties or affects the City.

In accordance with Standing Order No.8, the following question was put by Councillor Banyard to the Leader:

“The former SecAnim site in St David’s has become a magnet for urban exploring, with young people and others putting themselves at risk by entering this contaminated and derelict factory. Despite repeated complaints from ward councillors, the owner has taken no action. The Council has issued a Community Protection Order, but this has been ignored. What action will the Leader take to ensure this dangerous site is urgently made secure?”

The Leader gave the following response:

“ The former SecAnim site is in private owndership (Cilldara Group Exeter Ltd), and responsibility for ensuring the site is secure, rests with the landowner under the Occupiers Liability Act 1984.

Exeter City Council’s building control powers only extend to cases where a structure resents an immediate danger to the public, which is not currently the case here.

The Council’s Corporate Property team has pressed the landowner’s agents to strengthen fencing and site security, and we have reminded them of their legal duties. We continue to monitor the situation and will review whether other statutory powers, such as action under section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (untidy land) or section 79 of the Building Act 1984 (ruinous or dilapidated buildings), might be engaged if conditions worsen.

The Council’s Environmental Health Team and Police have also been liaising closely with the landowner over the matter and pressing for a resolution to the problem using their limited legal powers also.”

In accordance with Standing Order No.8, the following question was put by Councillor Haigh to the Leader:  

“At the Special Executive on 24 June 2025, it was resolved that any increase in costs to Leisure Services be reported back to Executive and Council for approval. With regard to the closure of Northbrook Pool, can the Leader confirm the outcome of negotiations on the dilapidations clause – specifically, the requirement, as stated by the Strategic Director of Place, to return the building to the Northbrook Trust in “good order and repair”? What is the agreed cost of meeting this obligation, will the Council need to borrow to fund it, and what impact will this have on the current budget?”

The Leader gave the following response:

The City Council has announced that it will no longer run services at Exeter’s Northbrook Swimming pool after 3pm on 23 September 2025. It follows the decision made by the Council’s Executive on 24 June, and an extensive consultation with leisure members, centre users, schools, and clubs. The decision has been driven by a combination of high operating costs and consistently low usage. Unfortunately, this means the Council is no longer able to subsidise the facility.

However, all users will be able to switch to our modern and accessible facilities close by in the city. The leisure team have worked hard over the last couple of months to ensure that the transition is as smooth as it can be for all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.