Clifton Hill green space pledge

Exeter City Council has resisted the temptation to cash in on a valuable plot of land for houses, with a pledge to keep it green for the community.

Officers had recommended selling off the land at Clifton Hill as a way of covering the costs left behind after the failure of its housing development company Exeter City Living (ECL).

The site could have brought in millions of pounds, and there were fears that it could be a target for purpose-built student accommodation for Exeter University, despite a council policy against that.

But the council’s executive committee has decided to sell the land on which the leisure centre sat, while hanging on to the land around it, which has been used as a dry ski slope and a golf driving range.

Cllr Emma Morse (Lab, Mincinglake and Whipton, pictured) said: “Even though officers believe it is the right thing to do, we as politicians do not.”