A bold strategy, prepared by LDA Design, to use a major housing delivery programme to fulfil Exeter’s potential has been unveiled by the city council.
Liveable Exeter shows how the Council’s plans for 12,000 new homes by 2040 will benefit existing communities, making the city a healthier and more prosperous place.
The strategy emphasises the qualities and assets that make Exeter liveable, and how these will attract investment as the city grows.
Liveable Exeter also addresses congestion and other transport challenges holding the city back, and how to make active travel a genuinely inviting option to new communities. Exeter City Council’s Chief Executive and Growth Director Karime Hassan comments: “Emerging thinking from transport planners would aim for half of trips within the city to be made on foot or by bike. This complements aspirations to become the country’s most active city.”
Frazer Osment of LDA Design describes Liveable Exeter as an assertive move to fulfil the potential of the city. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to renew the structure of the city so that it can accommodate the sort of change and attract the investment it needs for its communities to prosper in the future. I believe that the strategy reflects exceptional creativity and ambition within the Council.”
Exeter is the sixth least affordable city in the country. Exeter City Futures programme director, Liz O’Driscoll, has welcomed proposals that could bring much needed affordable housing whilst reducing the dominance of private cars.
Liveable Exeter shows how eight housing projects built at higher density would change the way the city is planned and renew its infrastructure, including where heavily trafficked streets have lost their historic qualities and where land ownership is fragmented. This will be done with responsive and agile urban design which takes advantage of changes in living patterns, and new technologies such as AV/EV, to support clean growth. Development would provide new types of work space, making use of disused buildings, and more space for recreation and entertainment including a major cultural destination on the river.
A comprehensive walking and cycling network would utilise open spaces, green valleys and parks, connecting economic hubs and residential neighbourhoods to bus and rail transport interchanges.
Liveable Exeter will inform the emerging Greater Exeter Strategic Plan.
