Agenda item

Proposer: Councillor Ketchin

Seconder: Councillor Wetenhall

Background

England is the second most densely populated major country in Europe.  Consequently, with huge pressure on land England is also cited as one the most nature deplete country in Europe and has the lowest 'nature connectedness'.

Regarding Exeter, many of the finest and most appreciated public assets are its river and valley parks.  They provide recreational and natural amenity. These important elements of a liveable city are captured in some of our guiding documents, the with Corporate Strategy 2022-26 and new Exeter City Council Local Plan.  Once greenspace is developed it is typically lost to the public and natural domain permanently.

The development hierarchy of habitat loss is avoidance-reduction-mitigation. Where the council chooses on balance to develop green space, it can follow the second principle of harm reduction.

However, this motion recognises Exeter City Council does not have a robust mechanism to mitigate. There is a practice to intensify biodiversity in land through development design, the practice of "biodiversity net gain". This can be viewed as improving the quality of existing biodiversity in a given space. In the case of green space development, in effect nature quality is expected to compensate for the loss of space.  This may have validity, but clearly the practice of pushing natural habitat into every smaller and smaller but better-quality parcels has rapidly apparent limits. This is particularly the case in our urban setting  Biodiversity net gain is arguably a concept best applied to brownfield and greenfield sites.

Perhaps even more importantly for an urban setting, this model of concentrating nature, says nothing for public access to green space for recreation and wellbeing.  For these reason that is why this motion has come forward. As Exeter rapidly runs out of development space, the loss of greenfield space to the public domain is increasingly aired by residents and apparent to all.

This Council resolves that capital receipts from the sale of ECC owned greenfield sites or land that is for all intents and purposes a greenfield site, be used solely for the purchase of other greenfield sites within the Exeter City Council boundary or immediate adjacent vicinity.

Councillor Ketchin moved and was seconded by Councillor Wetenhall, a Notice of Motion in the following terms:

“This motion proposes that capital receipts from the sale of ECC-owned green field sites or land never developed that is for all intents and purposes green field site, be used solely for the purchase of other green field sites within the Exeter City Council boundary or immediately adjacent vicinity.

Background
England is the second most densely populated major country in Europe.  Consequently, with huge pressure on land England is also cited as one the most nature deplete country in Europe and has the lowest 'nature connectedness'.

Regarding Exeter, many of the finest and most appreciated public assets are its river and valley parks. They provide recreational and natural amenity. These important elements of a liveable city are captured in some of our guiding documents, the with Corporate Strategy 2022-26 and new Exeter City Council Local Plan.  Once greenspace is developed it is typically lost to the public and natural domain permanently.

The development hierarchy of habitat loss is avoidance-reduction-mitigation.  Where the council chooses on balance to develop green space, it can follow the second principle of harm reduction.

However, this motion recognises Exeter City Council does not have a robust mechanism to mitigate.  There is a practice to intensify biodiversity in land through development design, the practice of "biodiversity net gain". This can be viewed as improving the quality of existing biodiversity in a given space.  In the case of green space development, in effect nature quality is expected to compensate for the loss of space.  This may have validity, but clearly the practice of pushing natural habitat into every smaller and smaller but better-quality parcels have rapidly apparent limits.  This is particularly the case in our urban setting Biodiversity net gain is arguably a concept best applied to brown field and grey field sites.

Perhaps even more importantly for an urban setting, this model of concentrating nature, says nothing for public access to green space for recreation and wellbeing.  For these reason that is why this motion has come forward. As Exeter rapidly runs out of development space, the loss of greenfield space to the public domain is increasingly aired by residents and apparent to all.”

 In presenting the Motion, Councillor Ketchin made the following points:

• Exeter was one of the most pressurised cities in the UK as the boundaries were tight, and the rate of growth was high;
• green land which was immediate and accessible to residents was being squeezed and this motion aimed to mitigate this; and
• there were areas within the city boundaries that were not developed and could be bought to improve wellbeing and increase recreational facilities like the Valley Parks.

Councillor Wetenhall, as seconder spoke in support of this motion, making the following points:

• the local nature recovery strategy of Devon was to be published soon, and ECC were a partner; and
• biodiversity net gain could be put by developers anywhere in the country.

Members speaking made the following comments in relation to the motion:

• Exeter already has excellent green spaces, such as the Valley Parks that were currently looked after Devon Wildlife Trust;
• this motion appears restrictive, and there were no robust mechanisms for mitigation;
• biodiversity was becoming an issue, there were no swift boxes in new developments;
• the next generations should be healthy but the opposite was true as many did not have access to green space;
• this was not deemed the right strategy for Exeter; and
• this could make it harder to deliver affordable housing, as it could drive up the cost of greenfield sites.

Following a vote, the motion was NOT CARRIED.