Category: Uncategorized

Comments on the CONTENT of the new Local Plan and it’s relationship with other plans

Do you know what other plans there are?

• The Greater Exeter Strategic Plan was rejected by East Devon District Council and Mid Devon. But the need for a plan which connects these areas and understands the context for development, remains essential. So the process is beginning again
• Devon County Council has a range of Highways strategies and policies, Low Carbon targets and Net Zero ambitions which affect Exeter
• National Planning Policy and the new Environment Bill currently going through parliament

Some suggestions for comments:

Renewed consultations for the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan should be incorporated into the formal consultation process for the Local Plan. This should take place before a Draft Local Plan is produced, because:
• Commuter gateways substantively influence any sustainable transport network and infrastructure investments proposed or envisaged by the Local Plan and will impact the Corporate Plan’s ambitions to tackle congestion and accessibility
• The Greater Exeter area is the context of and setting for the “exceptional
environmental setting” described in the Local Plan Vision
• A complex systems view should be integral to the city’s planning process, not only for transport, economic drivers and social value but also ecosystem impacts specifically to wildlife at a county level, including European protected species.
This would also provide an opportunity for ECC to update its SCI requirement and
address current inadequacies in community engagement mechanisms

Conflicts with DCC Highways plans should be identified and opportunities for integration and innovation explored. For example, the Pinhoe Area Access Strategy and Addendum is currently in conflict with the Exeter Transport Strategy. This is connected to financial provisions for the Highways programme through developer contributions. Public consultation should be provided

Exeter’s Local Plan should be integrated with Devon County Council Low Carbon policies to amplify local aggregation opportunities. It’s a climate emergency and integrated thinking is essential.

Policies and opportunities within Natural England’s Nature Recovery Network Strategies Planning should be referenced and included as part of the new Local Plan. This relates specifically but not exclusively to the opportunity to connect Nature Recovery areas in Exeter’s Valley Parks to those in the Clyst Valley Regional Park by establishing a Ridgeline Park area across the Northern Hills. There is potential for a ‘wildbelt’ area around the city which is connected by a network of public green spaces (Exeter Green Circle, Valley Parks and more).

A systems-thinking approach to mapping complexities and identifying opportunities for new economic and environmental modelling, should be embedded across all relationships with other plans to ensure maximum integration at a time of climate emergency. It’s a new approach to bringing clarity and new perspectives to complex planning systems. The Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter is a leading centre for expertise

Please cut and paste however you feel best represents your views. Get in touch if any clarification would help you: mail@portfoliofive.co.uk

When residents of Pinhoe reached out for help to protect Higher Field and all the amazing wildlife living there, we found connection with people across the city who understand and share the alarm we feel. We joined forces, signing the petition to protect green fields and the green skyline which circles our beautiful city and shapes our sense of how we feel about where we live. Thank you to every single one of you who made the effort to sign the petition. It worked. The field is saved – for now.

Pinhoe is not the model for development. It’s the warning

After presenting our proposal to the Scrutiny Committee, councillors from across the political divide asked us to find a way for everyone who signed the petition to share their views on the Local Plan.

After months of work researching the petition, discussing and developing workable ideas, presenting the proposal for a Ridgeline Park across the Northern Hills and ensuring it relates to and connects with local and national policies, organisations and opportunities, a small group of us sat down to examine the Local Plan.

The challenge

This new Local Plan is a complex connection of documents, often using specialist language relating to many different fields of expertise. It sets out planning priorities, development values, a vision for the city based on its growth, and an ambition for Exeter to be a “global leader in addressing social, economic and environmental challenges of climate change and urbanisation”.

This is a plan which sets the Council’s values for the next TWENTY YEARS. It will be referenced in EVERY planning application and EVERY application for funding. Every time there’s a need for a road or a school, jobs or health services, whether it’s community services for young people or active travel routes, whether it’s public green spaces or private land, THIS LOCAL PLAN WILL LEAD THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

Are you ready?

All this boils down to FIVE QUESTIONS presented in a survey as the consultation with every resident in Exeter.

Each question has a box with up to 5000 characters (approx 850 words) for you to fill in. No wonder people have been asking for help!

When we vote in national and local elections the process is clear, whether or not the politics are. Please don’t let this extraordinarily influential document pass you by without having a say

What next >

Working with local organisations and planning experts, gathering views from local residents across Pinhoe and the city of Exeter, we’ve written some points to highlight key strategic statements.

There are 5 main questions, so you’ll find 5 blog posts with information on some of the main points.

Each question is broken into points with statements and recommendations. If you agree with any or all of the points, you can cut and paste into the survey boxes found here: https://wh.snapsurveys.com/siam/surveylanding/interviewer.asp

We’ve worked hard to stick to national and international guidelines and connect to evidence relating to community concerns. We have no political affiliation. If you have any comments or would like to contribute, please get in touch: mail@portfoliofive.co.uk

PLEASE PLAY YOUR PART!

There are questions about Exeter City Council’s Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) which is required by law, out of date and cannot be considered a functioning basis for connecting or consulting with communities. The consultation process for this Local Plan provides overwhelming evidence of the need for a complete rethink.

Whether we like the process or not, whether it’s fit-for-purpose or whether it’s crying out for new thinking, the deadline for you to submit your views is MONDAY 15th NOVEMBER at 5pm. PLEASE PLAY YOUR PART IN LOCAL DEMOCRACY

Presented to Exeter City Council’s Strategic Scrutiny Committee at Exeter’s Guildhall, Thursday 23rd September 2021

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak today and respectful of the expertise of this committee. I’m also grateful to my local councillor David Harvey who advised me to be myself, to focus on the petition and to only ask the council to do what the council can do.

As a systems convener, I’m interested in bringing people together across social and commercial interests to generate collective solutions to complex, systemic challenges. Like this.

Green infrastructure in Pinhoe has been deteriorating over time and the network it provides for nature and wildlife is collapsing.

I can quote the Treeconomics Survey, commissioned by Exeter City Council, that shows Pinhoe has the lowest tree canopy cover in the city. And I can show you the Devon hedgerows brimming with biodiversity, full of trees and wildlife, running along key routes through Pinhoe – hedgerows that come to an abrupt halt, where they have been removed and reduced to a single plant in a single pot standing alongside the developer’s advertising boards.

As a community in Pinhoe, we’ve been watching this happen with increasing anxiety; we’re not alone. We’ve been contacted by groups devastated by the scale of wildlife loss in their area. Many are looking for inspiration and most, quite frankly, are looking for hope.

So here it is: I present to you our idea for a Ridgeline Park to protect the distinctive landscape of the Northern Hills and connect across the city and beyond. This Ridgeline Park would make so many connections – not only to the city’s Valley Parks at Mincinglake by extending the Green Circle walk, but reaching all the way across to the Greater Exeter area at Poltimore, Cranbrook and the Clyst Valley Park. And beyond, through the Two Counties Way, to Somerset!

We see a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to safeguard local green spaces for local people to encounter local wildlife, with all the wellbeing benefits that brings.

There’s an amazing network of green spaces across Exeter which could track so many routes to connect everything in the most amazing resource for the whole city. It develops the narrative of Exeter’s Garden City status in the most powerful way, enhancing the Council’s reputation for its regional ambition and directional policymaking, notwithstanding the challenges of government planning directives.

Importantly, it would shift the Council’s narrative from GROWING the city, to building a city that THRIVES.

What can the Council do?

• Local landowners need new policy frameworks to explore carbon offsetting and other nature recovery investment models. The expertise is out there and Natural England has already begun this process.
• Local Plan consultations need new models of mapping and protecting green infrastructure to recharge the sense of civic participation.
• Council can develop new models for community housing: local housing for local people, alongside the Liveable Exeter and Net Zero plans. Integrating conversations with developers in a local conversation.

This sort of community wealth-building approach is gaining momentum nationally. Exeter City Council has the opportunity to lead our city at this moment, as it builds the new Local Plan and looks to reimagine relationships with our neighbours across the Greater Exeter area.

The Ridgeline Park project achieves all these objectives.

The World Health organisation announced yesterday that it has HALVED its recommended guideline limits for particulate pollution. I suggest to this committee that there are many roads in Exeter which would fail this limit multiple times on a daily basis. The climate crisis is also a crisis of our wellbeing.

From Pinhoe, we urge you to create change. To begin the process of priority and policy that can uniquely shape this city in a new direction that will protect our green infrastructure. We want to work with the Council to create this PROJECT OF HOPE, beginning with the Northern Hills, founded on practical potential, demonstrating social and environmental value to all of Exeter. “

Thank you / Kate Jago