click THE WRITING on each photo to get to the article.
the Neighbourhood News
Our wonderful Neighbourhood News gets delivered to 3200 houses in the St Leonards area every two months and it contains articles, advertisements and up-coming events. To find out more go to the Neighbourhood News web page.
Noticeboards
Here is a link to our virtual noticeboard which shows the same events and posters as the real noticeboard which is on the green opposite the shops in Magdalen Road.
Wellbeing Exeter
The Newtown & St Leonards Community Builder monthly Newsletter contains a wealth of information about things going on in the area.
Also a quarterly newsletter from Wellbeing Exeter
As reported in the last issue of the Neighbourhood News, the future of Mount Radford Lawn looks rosier than it has done over the last few years. The Deaf Academy, the owners, want to celebrate their 200th anniversary by bringing MRL into use as ‘a social space’, and as an opportunity to ‘celebrate our shared history, the value of community and cultural diversity in creating a legacy for generations to come.’ A feasibility study is being undertaken and is due to report in mid May, the SLNA committee has met with Ben Hunt (Heavitree Parklife) who is leading the study and made very good suggestions as to how the land facilities might be used and laid out. I hope and believe that the wider community will be involved in consultations later. The Deaf Academy have issued a press release which is published here below and which has been sent to other publications, it all seems very good news, I thank them for it and look forward to working with them to transform MRL from a locked up space with potential to an open space available for use by the deaf community and the community of St Leonards.
Sylvan Dewing , the head of the Deaf Academy, addressed our AGM on the 16th May and answered questions from some of the members of the community.
The Feasibility Study and future action is being considered by the Deaf Academy - a press release is due before the end of September 2024.
PRESS RELEASE BY DEAF ACADEMY - Feasibility Study Launched for Mount Radford Lawn in Exeter
The Deaf Academy is delighted to announce plans for a comprehensive feasibility study for Mount Radford Lawn in Exeter - to be potentially transformed into a multi-functioning, multi-use space that meets the needs of the wide-ranging community.
Mount Radford Lawn is an unused parcel of Urban Green Space in St Leonards, Exeter, which is owned by the Deaf Academy.
The Academy relocated from its Topsham Road site (adjacent to Mount Radford Lawn) to Exmouth in 2020. However, it remains extremely proud of its extensive history and continued roots with the city, dating back to 1826. It also has a considerable alumni of former staff and students living in Exeter.
It is now researching how it could create both a permanent legacy as a long-standing provider of Deaf education, as well as an attractive, vibrant and sustainable community space.
This project will tie in with the Academy’s plans for its Bicentennial celebrations in 2026. It will have an emphasis on celebrating the Deaf community, Deaf culture and Deaf identity. It will also focus on the Academy’s priorities for supporting inclusion, education, special education needs and British Sign Language.
The Academy has now commissioned an independent professional who has expertise in this field of work; having helped establish the successful Park Life community space in Exeter’s Heavitree Park. He will liaise with key stakeholders, build a community around the project and recommend a way forward.
The website for information is:-
www.thedeafacademy.ac.uk/mount-radford-lawn/.
This web page serves as a public timeline and will be kept updated at each stage in this project’s progress.
The proposal to make the site access of a new Residential Home and a new Care home onto Weirfield Road was passed with little thought to the practicality, safety, historic road closures, Dept of Health Regulations and residents' needs. The argument against this, made to ECC by the SLNA and very strongly by the residents of Weirfield Rd and others is why should developers be allowed to use the public highway as their driveway, they should create access directly onto the main Topsham Road.
Another point which seems to be being ignored is that The Department Of Health recommends that healthcare premises have two vehicular accesses for safety reasons. Should a fire occur or other incident requiring emergency vehicles to access the site and one vehicle access was disabled then there would be another.
After an appeal and many complaints a Planning Dept. decision has been made to allow a Residential home with access (shared with the Care Home ) off Weirfield Road, even though this could result in emergency vehicle, or any vehicle access being blocked more often than it would be if the access was directly onto Topsham Rd. No requirement has been placed on the developers to add a second access from Topsham Road. A great mistake and we hope it doesn't result in a medical emergency not being able to be served quickly enough. If people are hurt or lives are lost because of carelessly given planning permissions, then the authorities will be answerable.
Matford Lane DCC sale - land between The Coaver Club & Matford Lane
“Notice is hereby given that Devon County Council intends to dispose of an area of approximately 0.6 hectares of land known as land and buildings at the Matford Office Site, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter, Devon EX2 4QD, part of which is considered to be open space land.”
The whole of County Hall's green spaces are under threat. The County Council is very short of money and in the medium term, would like to move out of County Hall to somewhere smaller. This puts the green spaces of the site - heavily used and much appreciated by local people - at risk of being sold off for development.
What can be done? The St Leonard’s Neighbourhood Association is applying for much of the green space at the County Hall site to be given a special designation, as part of the emerging local land use plan. If designated, the site would have strong protection against development. There is a real chance of achieving this designation but it requires a strong case to be made to Exeter City Council. This includes setting out detailed evidence of what local people think about the site and how they use it.
A questionnaire is a key part of building an evidence-based case for why this green space should be protected and one has been prepared, a LINK TO IT IS HERE.
The other money raising-action being taken by DCC is the sale of Larkbeare House. See separate news item in this website.
A while ago some residents of Cedars Road, a small cul-de-sac in St Leonards, decided that they’d like to tidy up a little patch of weed and bramble-covered land at the end of the road (see picture). The land is shown in this photo and is 25 sq m, about the size of a small sitting room. They could have gone about it two ways, ask the owner for permission, or just got on with it as the owner clearly wasn’t too fussed about it’s appearance. They decided to ‘do the right thing’ and ask the owner if they could improve its look by planting some flowers and keeping it maintained. Big mistake! The owner was Devon County Council (DCC) and their wheels of bureaucracy rolled into action.
DCC’s response was that the residents group should:-
Enter into a legal licensing agreement with DCC.
Take out Public Liability insurance for a liability sum of £5M and indemnify the owner from all claims.
The land must be grassed over, seeded or turfed at no cost to DCC when the licence ends, this could be at any time.
HOWEVER - time moved on and common sense seems to have prevailed, The photo here shows how a dreary corner of the neighbourhood can be turned into a garden which is friendly to humans and insects alike. It also has the benefit of being carried out by a community of neighbours getting together.... win win win!
The St Leonards Neighbourhood Association has granted them £200 to cover some past and future costs.
6/10/24
Listing application to protect its future.
The current Larkbeare House, built in a different location to the previous house, was constructed on the present site in on Topsham Road in about 1862 for Charles Bowring's grandson, John Charles Bowring.
The Exeter Civic Society, supported by the SLNA and others applied to have the House and grounds listed in order to protect them from wrongful development. The Dept of Culture Media and Sport has decided that the gardens should be listed, but that the garden steps, the summerhouse and main house should not. The garden listing decision stated:-
"Agreed. This mid-C19 garden retains a range of designed elements and is attributed to James Veitch senior, a horticulturist of national repute. It is also associated with noted C19 amateur botanist John Bowring. The loss of structural components is regrettable but much of the layout remains in the form as shown on a later C19 plan. The garden has the degree of interest required for registration.
13 June 2024"
A buyer came forward in February 2024, but has pulled out of the purchase. Rumour has it that the purchaser couldn't wait for a decision to be made on the listing process.
Let's hope that another legacy friendly purchaser comes forward.
23/10/24
An historic background to the house can be found here.
St Lukes campus redevelopment plans for Medical School buildings. Info & Consultation links.
St Luke’s Campus is included in The Exeter Plan Full Draft Regulation 18 (October
2023) as a ‘New Transformational employment allocation’ (Policy EJ6):
The St Luke’s site forms part of the University of Exeter’s campus and currently provides academic, administrative, sports and social facilities for the University of Exeter. The site will require redevelopment to provide a future health campus, to consolidate health and wellbeing activities and help the University to scale up its biomedical and clinical research and associated commercialisation.
Redevelopment of the campus will also strengthen the existing research and teaching links between the University and the Royal Devon University Healthcare Trust. Proposals at St Luke’s will need to be of a high quality and appropriate in the context of the wider residential area. Proposals will need to demonstrate through the preparation of a masterplan framework regard for the environmental and heritage assets on site and in the surrounding area.
To provide feedback, please fill in a feedback
form today or via our website:
www.exeter.ac.uk/stlukesredevelopment
In the Summer of 2024, the University plans to
submit a final masterplan framework to Exeter
City Council for endorsement and to feature as
part of the new Exeter Plan.
John Vickery is the project manager.
If you have any queries about the proposal for St. Luke's Campus, please contact: campusdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk
Display materials giving more information can be found HERE
These subjects were raised at the 2024 AGM and our DCC Councillor Carol Whitton said,
"I understand that the current temporary traffic order for the one way Magdalen Road extension to Fairfield Park will also need to return to the Highways and Traffic Orders Committee at some point within the next 6 months. As yet, I do not have a date for when this will happen.
The third stage safety audit of Magdalen Road has been completed. A number of its recommendations have been implemented, including:
• Relocating some of the ‘Loading Only’ traffic signs to make these more prominent, to encourage loading within the bays provided
• Providing signage opposite the echelon parking bays to remind drivers to proceed left when exiting the bays
• Providing additional contraflow cycle lane markings and signage
As far as I am aware, the most concerning aspect of the new road layout has been the way in which the use of the delivery bays brings contraflow cyclists using the marked cycle lane into conflict with oncoming vehicles. This was raised in the Road Safety Audit with a recommendation that the loading bays were widened into the footway, thereby reducing the usable footway width. The Highways planners considered that this would have a disproportionate adverse impact on pedestrians, and would not be in line with the hierarchy of road users, which prioritises pedestrians over cyclists and other road users. Therefore, this recommendation was not implemented.
Want to make a difference for your community? Become a governor
The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is looking for people to bring the voices of their communities to the Trust by nominating themselves to be a public governor.
Governors share their feedback with members of the Board of Directors, those at the highest level of the Trust, to represent the interests of local people.
Find out more about the role and how to apply: https://royaldevon.nhs.uk/about-us/foundation-trust-and-membership/council-of-governors/governor-elections/
Want to make a difference for your community? Become a governor
The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is looking for people to bring the voices of their communities to the Trust by nominating themselves to be a public governor.
What is a governor?
Governors share their feedback with members of the Board of Directors, those at the highest level of the Trust, to represent the interests of local people.
As well as representing people in your area, governors play a vital role in the governance of the Trust. The Council of Governors appoints the Trust’s Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) and holds them to account for the performance of the Board.
Public governors work alongside staff governors and appointed governors from Devon County Council and the University of Exeter, so that the Council of Governors as a whole represents the voices of the Trust’s staff, patients and wider communities.
Governors have a wide range of experiences and backgrounds, but what they share is a passion for helping to shape local health services in a way that best meets the needs of patients and the public.
You can nominate yourself from Friday 19 July. The closing date is 5pm on Tuesday 6 August.
Find out more about the role and how to apply: https://royaldevon.nhs.uk/about-us/foundation-trust-and-membership/council-of-governors/governor-elections/
The Trust is holding three information webinars where can find out more about the role, hear from some of the current governors, and ask any questions. Click on the dates below to register and get the joining link:
Thursday 11 July at 12 noon-1pm
Tuesday 16 July at 5pm-6pm
Monday 22 July at 5pm-6pm
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