Exeter City Council

People in Exeter are being asked to help celebrate the city’s parks. Love Parks Week runs across Britain from Friday 26 July until Sunday 4 August. Organised by Keep Britain Tidy, Love Parks Week is a week-long celebration highlighting the vital role green spaces play in boosting the health and wellbeing of residents and communities.

Exeter’s role in the British Empire will be discussed in a talk by prominent city historian Dr Todd Gray at the historic Guildhall next month. It will focus on research which, for the first time, will reveal Exeter’s part in the British Empire. The talk, Inclusive Exeter: Exeter and the British Empire, 1575-2024, will be held at the Guildhall in Exeter High Street on Saturday 7 September, at 10am (doors open 9.30am). Tickets are now on sale.

Work is progressing on bringing three football pitches in Exeter back into use. A quality new playing surface is being created at the Bromham’s Farm Field site next to the Exeter Ship Canal. The site should be ready for football by 2026. A baseball pitch is also being created on the site, which is owned by Exeter City Council. The project is being funded by the Environment Agency, which used the location as a site compound for the city’s flood defence scheme. The fields had been used as sports pitches before the flood defence work started.

Community groups in Exeter’s priority neighbourhoods are being invited to apply for funding from the City Council. The Council’s City Grant fund has gone live, enabling groups in certain areas to tap into much needed funds of up to £2,500. The City Grants Fund supports groups and organisations to help run events, festivals and projects that aim to encourage community participation.  

A major survey of residents is taking place in Exeter as part the Council’s ongoing commitment to improving engagement and insight. The Local Government Association (LGA) Residents Survey will explore perceptions of living in Exeter and the services provided by the City Council. Questions will explore satisfaction levels with the local area - including community identity and safety - and satisfaction levels with the Council, including how it runs services, provides value for money, its responsiveness and how it keeps residents informed.

Seven innovative arts projects designed to build pride in place and provide opportunities for community participation are to receive funding from a joint university-local government programme. The commissions will receive a share of £40,000 from Creative Arc following an open call to creative organisations, artists and local communities. Among those who’ve been chosen include a new community choir, who will have the chance to perform live at the Northcott Theatre; workshops and engagement activities for members of the special education needs and disabilities (SEND) community; and an initiative that will place ten young people as ‘writers in residence’ at local businesses.

We're hiring. Here's our current list of vacancies. You can apply at exeter.gov.uk/jobs Current Vacancies: Exchequer Manager Reactive Repairs Works Surveyor Casual Waterways Operative Housing Navigator Reactive Repairs Works Surveyor Public and Green Space Operator Engineer (Harbour & Waterways) Senior Planner (Conservation) Cleaner/Market Assistant Casual Swimming Instructor Casual Baby and Toddler Swimming Teacher Tree Manager

A giant redwood tree on an allotment site in Exeter will have to be felled after noticeably deteriorating over the last year. The Sequioadendron giganteum – also known in the UK as a ‘Wellingtonia’ or giant redwood – which is located on the Pinces Gardens Allotments, will have to be brought down for safety reasons. There is another giant redwood standing close by which is unaffected. Tree experts at the City Council said the giant tree which stands at around 23m tall, with a stem diameter of some 2m, is beyond saving, with 95% of the foliage having already turned brown.  

Icebergs have been spotted on the River Exe. However the large ice forms are part of a floating art installation not the consequence of a chilly early summer. The Melt, by Anthony Garratt, floats giant, double sided paintings of Arctic Icebergs on swinging moorings. The artwork can be seen from Exeter’s Quayside just downstream from the Butts Ferry. It was installed this week with the aid of Exeter City Council’s Canal and Waterways team.

Crucial work to strengthen a high-profile wall on Exeter’s quayside are now complete. Repairs and stabilisation have been carried out to a 105-metre stretch of cliff face wall above Exeter Quay on the city centre side of the River Exe. The cellars below the wall were once used by smugglers many years ago with an underground route connecting to the basements of properties in nearby Colleton Crescent. Today the cellars provide a home to a number of quirky and interesting businesses serving tourists and visitors to the quayside.