14 October 2026

Summary of our findings

EXMO20 was not on the agenda and no Local Plan decision was taken. It came up a lot in public speaking, where five speakers or statements opposed the allocation, and in the Leader's announcement, which replied that housing numbers cannot be reduced. It came up again when Cllr Brian Bailey asked whether an EXMO20 application would go to planning committee under the new national scheme of delegation (no answer was given), and in questions about the water cycle study and awaited evidence documents.

• Public speaking (agenda item 4): five of the six registered speakers (four in person, one written statement read out by the Democratic Services officer) spoke about EXMO20 and the draft Local Plan: the number of objections, the HELAA result, the 'significant change' test, Habitats Regulations avoidance, barbastelle bats near the Pebblebed Heaths, water and sewage capacity, and officers' advice to members about attending a public meeting. The chair stopped one speaker making allegations about officers. The sixth speaker spoke on the visitor levy motion.
• Leader's announcement (item 6): Cllr Paul Arnott said he had written to the Prime Minister about South West Water's infrastructure plans, saying this affects councillors' confidence in passing a local plan, especially for the new town. He said reducing housing numbers 'just isn't the case if we could we would' and spoke directly to the EXMO20 campaigners.
• Reports and minutes (item 9): Cllr Faithfull raised Wimbleball reservoir at 18% and asked about the water cycle study and other awaited documents. The Leader called water security an 'existential risk' relevant to site identification. Cllr Todd Olive said he would circulate an update to all members on 'those three documents' after a briefing with Ed Freeman on the Friday.
• Called minute (item 9): Cllr Jess Bailey objected to the 20% buffer triggered by a Housing Delivery Test shortfall of 21 homes. Cllr Olive said the buffer does not increase the housing number the Local Plan must plan for. Ed Freeman said the team was re-checking the data but data can be submitted only once a year.
• Planning scheme of delegation (item 10): Council adopted changes required by the national Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions Regulations 2026 (most applications decided by officers; major applications go to committee only if they pass a test, with the officer's view prevailing if the head of service and chair disagree; committee cut to no more than 13 members; ward member call-in ends) plus local code changes: no member-arranged meetings with developers or objector groups, only members on a site visit may vote, and members minded to go against officer advice should consider a deferral. Asked whether EXMO20 (about 700 homes) would go to committee, Cllr Olive said he could not give a reasonable answer.
• Item 10 was amended in the meeting: a letter to the Prime Minister was added and new wording on officers engaging with ward members was deferred to the Constitution Working Group and the 9 December Council. Ed Freeman undertook to instruct staff the next day to engage proactively with members meanwhile, and said the council is currently being legally challenged over whether a decision followed the constitution. Carried by a show of hands ('largely carried').
• LGR (item 13): the Cabinet recommendation to reduce committee meetings was referred to the Constitution Working Group after objections from committee chairs; the up to £500,000 transition/transformation budget was kept. Carried.
• Other items approved: treasury and prudential indicators (items 11 and 15), pavement licensing policy (12), Financial Strategy 2027-29 (14), East Devon Local Nature Recovery Plan (16, unanimous), Employment and Skills Plans (17) and committee allocations (18, unanimous).
• Motions: community asset transfers (19) was amended to a review by the portfolio holders' assets working group and passed unanimously; the LGR costs motion (20) was not debated after Council voted to move to the next business, because a joint Devon councils' letter already covered it; the overnight visitor levy motion (21) passed in a form amended by the Leader (express concerns and ask to be consulted, rather than oppose outright).
• The meeting then went into private session (item 23, EdenServ) and the YouTube stream ended.

EXMO20 is named 24 times in the transcript of this meeting.

Quotes from this meeting in our case

Notes on the recording

• Minutes not yet published; they will be approved at the next Council meeting. The comparison is against the agenda page only. The full report texts for items 10 and 13 were not read, so their exact recommendation wording is taken from what was said in the meeting.
• The recording has a gap from 01:57:59 to 02:07:34 (a ten-minute adjournment during item 10).
• Votes were taken by show of hands, and the chair called most of them 'largely carried' or 'unanimous' without giving numbers. For the item 20 procedural vote, only 'four abstentions' was said aloud.
• The machine transcript misspells many names, for example 'Rylands' (Rylance), 'Exmo 20' and 'Extras 20' (EXMO20), 'HELAR', 'Hila' and 'healer' (HELAA), 'Howell' and 'Howard' (Howe), and 'Toad' (Todd). In some places it is unclear whether 'Barrow', 'Borough' or 'Burrup' means Cllr Burhop or Cllr Barlow.
• Under item 9, Cllr Olive cited Part 4 rule 26 (a called-minute slip must be submitted before the meeting) to stop questions on the water cycle study, but promised a written update to all members.
• The chair interrupted one public speaker several times over allegations about officers. Following the brief, those allegations are not repeated here.
• Earlier verified findings for this meeting already cover the Leader at 00:37:02, 00:37:41 and 00:45:10, Cllr Olive at 00:53:58 and 01:00:20 to 01:08:34, Cllr Brian Bailey at 01:08:16, Cllr Jess Bailey at 01:23:03 and Ed Freeman at 02:17:25.