Agenda item

To consider the report of the Chief Executive & Growth Director.

The Chief Executive & Growth Director gave a presentation (attached to minutes) setting out a vision for delivering a transformational housing programme for Exeter. This was a visionary place shaping document looking forward 20 years to inform and support planning in the city and the production of the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan. It was not a formal planning document but rather a strategic vision for place that captured the development opportunities in the city that required public sector support and leadership for the city of Exeter. It would help to guide the approach to the housing land supply problem, redevelopment of City Council’s assets, council house building, and corporate priorities centred on Building Great Neighbourhoods; Promoting Active & Healthy Lifestyles; and Tackling Congestion and Accessibility.

It had the potential of being an advocacy document for government funding for infrastructure and housing programmes, and in engaging with the private development sector and investors. Exeter had to provide for 13,100 houses within its municipal boundaries in the next 20 years. This emerging vision was about making Exeter one of the leading global cities in the area of responding to urban challenges and environmental futures.

The city’s road network was approaching capacity and there was a need to reduce car usage and improve the environment. The key was to provide mixed use neighbourhoods combining living, working and recreational space in high quality urban villages with pedestrian and cycle networks that would transform the city. Members were informed of the Transformational Housing Growth with active design being key to encourage activity for all and the vision for eight Strategic Projects - Red Cow Village at St David’s Station, Water Lane, Marsh Barton, East Gate, West Gate, South Gate, North Gate and Sandy Gate.

The Chief Executive & Growth Director explained that the level of infrastructure investment would be considerable and no less than what would be required for a Greenfield site. It was vital that the City Council adopted this vision to inform the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan and shape future planning in the city.

The Leader stated that this was an exciting vision for the future of the City and was important for the Council to plan for the future to ensure that it met its five year housing land supply. This document would help to prioritise pedestrian and cyclists travelling across the city.

The Chief Executive & Growth Director stated that this document was a vision which would support the planning process, whilst it would have no planning status it would help developers to think differently and be more ambitious. In a changing digital world the city needed to look at employment sites differently and the vision would support development through that process. High level discussions had already taken place with the stakeholders to take forward a shared vision for St David’s ward.

The Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, Communities and Sport commented that he fully supported the vision which would support the challenges ahead and the requirement to build 13,100 homes in the next 20 years. This document would support opportunities for the future generations to create sustainable decent communities in the city.

RECOMMENDED to Council to:-

(1)        adopt the Vision for a Transformational Housing Programme which would inform the production of the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan (GESP) and provide a strategic context for: redevelopment of the City Council’s assets, the production of Site Planning Statements to clarify expectations on sites offering scope for redevelopment; investigating options resulting from the Government’s removal of the cap on local authorities’ borrowing to fund the delivery of new council housing, and to assist planning responses to an acute housing land supply problem in Exeter; and

(2)        note the Greater Exeter Industrial Strategy which sets out an ambitious land acquisition and infrastructure investment bid amounting to £350m in support of a transformational housing programme for the sub-region, and it is assumed that the Transformational Housing Programme would require significant investment in infrastructure and land assembly to realise the 20 year programme.