Huge university development deferred

Committee opts for more time

Plans for a huge student housing development at the University of Exeter’s main campus have been deferred.

The city council’s planning committee had been recommended to approve the final stage ‘reserved matters’ application for the Streatham Campus on Thursday 25 May but opted for more time after it was urged to visit the site by concerned local residents.

The initial outline application for the development of the Clydesdale, Nash and Birks Grange Village Halls of Residence was supported by the committee in 2021. At the time it was said to deliver an extra 1,250 bedrooms for students.

But a detailed application presented this week included more bed spaces, with a total net increase of 1,769 spaces from the eight new ‘West Park’ blocks. A total of 2,061 new bed spaces would be created following the removal or demolition of 292 existing ones.

In addition to the new blocks, the proposal also includes refurbishing the existing Birks Grange Village blocks A-E to the north-west of the site from catered to self-catered flats. This will include the creation of new kitchens and the refurbishment of outdated bedrooms and facilities.

A public consultation on the designs took place late last year, and three of the new residential blocks were subsequently reduced in height due to the removal of some of the roof top plant rooms.

But some local people still object, claiming that putting one block on a steep hill, locally called ‘Cardiac Hill’ due to its steepness, would ‘massively impact’ them.

One objector at the meeting asked for this block, named ‘ST’, to be “removed altogether” from the plans due to its overbearing position over nearby properties.

“From Elmbridge Gardens, that building, because of the gradient, is equivalent to a ten-storey building,” he claimed, whilst also asking for neighbouring block ‘CB’  to be lowered from six to four storeys “so that it matches the height of its surrounding buildings that also directly face us.”
“We’re not NIMBYs,” he added. “We know this is going to happen. We know the building is going to happen. We just want to suggest practical ways of mitigating and reducing the adverse effect on us as local residents.”

Supporting the development, Mike Shore-Nye, the university’s registrar and secretary, said the building’s heights and massing, along with the amount of accommodation “complies with the approved outline permission parameters.”

He told the committee it would be a “high quality on-campus development with excellent accommodation and landscaped public realm,” adding: “Significant number of supporting services are provided including a shop, laundry facilities, social and study spaces, multi-faith spaces and over 1,300 secure cycle parking spaces.”

Mr Shore-Nye confirmed the development would be built to super-low energy passivhaus standards and that it was “essential in allowing the university to meet the requirements of our first year and international student accommodation guarantee.”

But during the debate, Councillor Michael Mitchell (Lib Dem, Duryard & St James) proposed to defer the application. “I believe at this stage more work needs to be done to address the issues raised by local residents.”

He added that a site visit should also be undertaken.

“This has to be right for Exeter,” Cllr Mitchell said. “It has to be right for the university and it has to be right for the community. This is going to be here for years to come. We’ve got to get this decision right.”

Seven members of the committee agreed with six abstaining, meaning the application will be considered again at a later date.