New call to protect Exeter's open spaces

Greens want investment in new parks

Exeter is being urged to do more to protect its open spaces.

A meeting of the city council next week (9 June) will hear a motion from Green councillors calling for money raised by selling greenfield sites to be used to buy more.

Newton and St Leonards Greens Andy Ketchin and Lynn Wetenhall will ask the full council to back their call for more open spaces.

The motion points out that there is huge pressure on land for building across the country, making England one of the most ‘nature deplete’ countries in Europe.

Exeter’s river and valley parks are among the city’s finest and most appreciated public assets, say the Greens, who add: “Once green space is developed it is typically lost to the public and natural domain permanently.”

They say the city council lacks a strategy for making sure open public spaces are protected as developers concentrate their biodiversity ‘gains’ inside developments which the public can't access.

The motion goes on: “As Exeter rapidly runs out of development space, the loss of greenfield space to the public domain is increasingly aired by residents and apparent to all.”

It calls on the council to pledge that any money made from selling off council-owned greenfield sites should be used solely to buy other greenfield sites within the city boundary or close by.