Heavitree student block back on drawing board

Cop shop replacement plans tweaked

Plans for student and co-living blocks on the site of Exeter’s former Heavitree Road police station has been delayed, after the developer successfully asked for more time to submit revised plans.

Councillors last month overwhelmingly voted that they were ‘minded to refuse’ the two six-storey blocks with a combined total of 1,000 rooms, with one describing the plan for opposite St Luke’s Campus as “hideous.”

Reasons included concerns about the design, height and scale of the development, its close proximity to Heavitree Road, a lack of amenities and the loss of trees and biodiversity.

The application, submitted by the police and crime commissioner’s office and its chosen developer Student Roost, would have replaced the existing buildings adjacent to Waitrose, which have been unoccupied since the police moved to a new HQ at Middlemoor in 2020.

Councillors could have officially rubber-stamped their refusal at a planning committee on Monday evening [10 October], but the developer asked for a two-month deferral so it could address the concerns and bring back a revised application in December.

Neil Howells, from Student Roost, said: “We are committed to making significant changes to the proposals to address your concerns.

“However, due to the time-sensitive nature of delivering student accommodation, it is imperative that these changes are made to the current application and not through a new submission.”

He added: “We are committed to taking your proposals to the south west design review panel later this month and engaging with you, through officers, on the amendments you wish to make to address your concerns.”

Director of city development Ian Collinson said: “We feel it’s a reasonable thing to do to allow them the opportunity – one more time – to address you concerns. That doesn’t preclude you from still having those reasons for refusal. All the applicant has asked for is a bit more time to consider that.”

Some councillors questioned whether an amended application would include enough changes to make the scheme acceptable, given the scale of the opposition previously. Another said they were not reassured enough to back a deferral.

But others, including council leader Phil Bialyk, raised the risk of the developer choosing to appeal a decision to refuse without a further chance to submit revised plans, meaning a planning inspector could decide to grant approval to the previously criticised application.

Mr Collinson reassured the committee that any altered application would be subject to a further public consultation, while committee chair Emma Morse (Labour, Mincinglake & Whipton) said they could still refuse the application if it again proved unacceptable.

Councillors agreed to defer the application by a margin of nine votes to three.

A revised plan is expected to return to a meeting in December.