Exeter ‘ransom strip’ land sale to go ahead

Developers need land to get into housing site

A ‘ransom strip’ of land blocking access to a green field earmarked for housing in Exeter will be sold by the city council.

Permission already exists for homes on the land off Pendragon Road in the Beacon Heath area, but in order to get into the field, developers need to use a small piece of land owned by the council.

A year ago the council opted not to sell it, prompting the would-be developers to hit back with a judicial review into the decision. That hearing will take place next month.

Now a new developer – local housing association LiveWest  – has come forward with a fresh plan to make all of the homes on the site ‘affordable’. And now the city council has had a change of heart and is set to hand over the ransom strip for around £1 million.

A ransom strip is the name given to a piece of land that controls access to another more valuable area.

A special meeting of the council’s executive committee voted unanimously to ‘revisit’ the decision made last July.

Cllr Duncan Wood (Lab, Pinhoe) said the new proposal is ‘distinctly different’ and Cllr Matthew Vizard (Lab, Newtown and St Leonards) said the city had no choice but to relinquish some greenfield land for homes.

“There is no possibility of bringing forward all the housing we need on brownfield sites,” he said.

“All housing sites across our cities and towns were once green fields.”

Council leader Phil Bialyk (Lab, Exwick) said working with LiveWest would work well, and added: “Things change. Houses come and go. We need that space and I think this is welcome.”

Progressive group co- leaders Diana Moore (Green, St Davids) and Michael Mitchell (Lib Dem, Duryard and St James) both asked if the earlier legal challenge would go ahead if the council opted to hand over the land this time.

Officers explained that the challengers were arguing that the 2024 decision was unreasonable and irrational – arguments that the council would strongly refute. The hearing will go ahead regardless of the latest decision.