District councillor
Cllr Olly Davey
Strategic Planning Committee member; Councillor for Exmouth Town (Green Party)
Green Party councillor for Exmouth Town on East Devon District Council (council records list service since 2019). Listed as a Strategic Planning Committee member in the meeting attendance records.
Where they stand
✓For EXMO20Asked on 8 July 2025 for EXMO20 to be reviewed while saying he was not proposing its removal, then on 2 September 2025 proposed accepting the officer recommendations that kept all Exmouth sites including EXMO20, and on 25 November 2025 said he did not want the site reduced.
I, with a somewhat heavy heart, I'm going to propose that we accept the Office of Recommendations on all the sites in Exmouth.Strategic Planning Committee, 2 September 2025 (morning) · 01:51:37 ▶ · meeting page · Proposed accepting officer recommendations for Exmouth, which included retaining EXMO20 ('Office' as transcribed).
Councillor Davey' proposal, seconded by Councillor Levine, is to accept all of officers' recommendations in the Exmouth section of this reportStrategic Planning Committee, 2 September 2025 (morning) · 02:03:41 ▶ · meeting page · Chair names him ('Davies' as transcribed) as proposer before the 9–1–2 vote.
I certainly don't want to see the site reduced because that's a nonsense in terms of the access road.Strategic Planning Committee, 25 November 2025 (morning) · 02:10:30 ▶ · meeting page · Later (25 November 2025) said he did not want EXMO20 reduced.
Everything they said about EXMO20 at the meetings
36 passages from the council recordings, in date order. Each time stamp plays the recording at that moment.
Strategic Planning Committee, 3 September 2024 – afternoon session (3)
Yeah, just to say that of the sites we've been looking at it doesn't look like the worst. It does have some potential for sustainable connections. I'm looking at it on Google Maps. There are some areas of woodland within it, which I would want to see preserved. But with a sensible approach, I certainly wouldn't want to try and fit 1,000 houses in there.00:14:00 ▶ · B. Site selection: HELAA, officer advice and why EXMO20 was included (“justified”) (93)
It does have some potential for sustainable connections.00:14:09 ▶ · The council’s answers (rebuttals) – what officers and councillors said in EXMO20’s defence
just to point out there is a belt of trees there and would require to be accessed through the trees so I want to see sort of additional planting in mitigation00:23:58 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
Strategic Planning Committee, 11 September 2024 – morning session (1)
when we allocate a site like this we're not actually saying that's it done deal all we're saying is you can come forward with the planning application um and uh and then at that point we can assess it and decide whether the the other matters add up02:01:25 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
Strategic Planning Committee, 4 February 2025 (4)
present and I've been lobbied uh particularly on uh EXMO20 uh so just a bit of lobbying there00:08:40 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
just like to say about EXMO20 I think one of the reasons we asked officers to look at it again was because we considered it was a better location than some of the developments along hullam road that we really did not like and I think it was actually chosen as an alternative but I'm afraid I wasn't here uh for the meeting where that that was approved01:40:56 ▶ · B. Site selection: HELAA, officer advice and why EXMO20 was included (“justified”) (93)
we considered it was a better location than some of the developments along hullam road that we really did not like and I think it was actually chosen as an alternative01:41:05 ▶ · The council’s answers (rebuttals) – what officers and councillors said in EXMO20’s defence
and in terms of whether we should delay publication for yet more evidence. I don't think so. I think we should just go ahead and publish and be damned, as the saying is, and as we no doubt will be.01:41:32 ▶ · 2. Outstanding pieces of work (HRA, Air Quality Mitigation report, etc.) – especially dates and promises (257)
Strategic Planning Committee, 8 July 2025 (9)
My recollection is that EXMO20 wasn't put forward by officers and it was councillors who persuaded them to look at it again because we felt it was an alternative to the sites to the west of Hullam Road, the northwest of Hullam Road, which did seem to us incredibly unsustainable.02:38:05 ▶ · B. Site selection: HELAA, officer advice and why EXMO20 was included (“justified”) (93)
The point has been made about sustainability and the distance from Exmouth Town Centre, and that is a point I've frequently made, that although Exmouth is a sustainable location, depending on where you are, the further out you go, the less sustainable it becomes.02:38:29 ▶ · H. Heritage and other (51)
But the point was made about Exmouth train station. I'm a 25-minute walk from Exmouth train station, and I would regard myself as almost living in the centre of Exmouth, about a third of the way up Harlem Road.02:39:11 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
There's also, and I think very importantly, the proximity to the national landscape and particularly the Pebblebed Heaths. And I notice the very first point in the issues and actions is to review allocations within or adjacent to a national landscape. So I think that officers have understood that we may need to review those in the light of change guidance on how we approach national landscapes.02:39:26 ▶ · H. Heritage and other (51)
So I would like to suggest that we do review EXMO20. I won't say 1,100 people can't be wrong. Well, I won't even quote the last election. But I would say if we don't do it now, when are we going to do it?02:40:11 ▶ · B. Site selection: HELAA, officer advice and why EXMO20 was included (“justified”) (93)
But I do think that we have to have a good hard look at EXMO20. Again, I'm not saying take it out, but I do think we need to consider all the issues that that has thrown up and the large number of objections that it's attracted.02:41:04 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
I just wonder if we should suggest if we're reviewing those sites we also need to look at alternatives don't we so that if those sites are taken out or reduced or or something done, that we have some alternatives to consider. Because I wasn't suggesting that we simply remove EXMO20 so Exmouth only has a 5% expansion. I think we need to look again at some of the sites in Exmouth and reconsider whether they perhaps are the least worst option after all.03:05:16 ▶ · C. Reasonable alternatives (27)
Because I wasn't suggesting that we simply remove EXMO20 so Exmouth only has a 5% expansion. I think we need to look again at some of the sites in Exmouth and reconsider whether they perhaps are the least worst option after all.03:05:50 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
Not everyone in Exmouth is particularly bothered about EXMO20. Probably a lot of people are not aware of it.03:06:44 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
Strategic Planning Committee, 2 September 2025 – morning session (6)
I've got a few questions they're all related to EXMO20. We've heard a lot about the impact on wildlife … could the parts of the site that we're looking at be developed without major harm to wildlife? Could that be mitigated in any way?01:20:09 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
there's quite a lot of woodland around there. I thought the report dealt at great length with the heritage impacts didn't deal so much with the wildlife and biodiversity impacts.01:20:24 ▶ · A. Habitats Regulations, Pebble Bed Heaths, air quality and ecology (126)
that junction at the top of Hulham road anyway um which it can be a dangerous junction anyway as traffic comes along there at some speed01:21:46 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
I, with a somewhat heavy heart, I'm going to propose that we accept the Office of Recommendations on all the sites in Exmouth. I have concerns about Exmouth's sustainability. It obviously is a sustainable location. Where I live, I can walk and cycle into town, but the further out you go, the more difficult that becomes.01:51:37 ▶ · 4. Councillors admitting EXMO20 should not have been allocated, or that allocating it was a mistake (30)
I think there's a lack of alternative sites within eczema as Councillor Hayward said nobody else wants to take our allocation01:52:25 ▶ · The council’s answers (rebuttals) – what officers and councillors said in EXMO20’s defence
All of this will be further tested at planning as these sites come forward. … I would hope that if and when this site comes forward particularly x20 I'm referring to um that it it will do the same that the developers will produce a master plan show how they can mitigate the effects on wildlife on transport and so on01:52:38 ▶ · G. Consultation and procedure (Regulation 19, AI, objections, generic answers, advice, future decisions) (85)
Strategic Planning Committee, 30 September 2025 (1)
But even if we were to build it out at a higher density, that housing would not arrive in time for us not to still need to allocate the number of houses we need to do within this Local Plan. And this is the point. Marlcombe is not a kind of magic bullet for avoiding development elsewhere.01:40:20 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
Strategic Planning Committee, 25 November 2025 – afternoon session (1)
it seems to me that the government has set not just ambitious targets but in fact unrealistic targets that nobody can achieve.00:26:25 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
Strategic Planning Committee, 25 November 2025 – morning session (3)
My next point is about EXMO20. My understanding was that the 400-meter buffer from the pale-baked heaths would restrict development of any sort. … If you site some kind of community hall in there, you're going to have people coming and going. You're going to have lights going on all the time. Ditto if it was a playing field. You could have floodlights that are going to be disturbing to wildlife.01:49:13 ▶ · A. Habitats Regulations, Pebble Bed Heaths, air quality and ecology (126)
Yeah, I'm kind of with Councillor Fitzgerald on this one, and I take Ed's point. … I certainly don't want to see the site reduced because that's a nonsense in terms of the access road. So long as we have the powers to restrict development in that area, then I think I'm happy with the wording as it stands.02:09:34 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
I certainly don't want to see the site reduced because that's a nonsense in terms of the access road.02:10:30 ▶ · The council’s answers (rebuttals) – what officers and councillors said in EXMO20’s defence
Strategic Planning Committee, 3 March 2026 – afternoon session (1)
We've been accused of outcome-driven planning already. Well, what other alternative do we have when the government is requiring outcomes?00:34:33 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
Strategic Planning Committee, 14 July 2026 (5)
Ricardos have now refined their assessment and modelling work, and that's included incorporated incorporation of new data on higher levels of projected use and uptake of electric vehicles. And that then brings the pollution levels down, of course. … where did that data come from? Is it nationally produced data? Is it wishful thinking? Is it something we can actually rely on00:50:47 ▶ · A. Habitats Regulations, Pebble Bed Heaths, air quality and ecology (126)
I know Jeff has come to a number of meetings where Southwest water blithely said there's no problem with connecting to the sewage network and Jeff has come along to say yes there is because you're not even managing what you've got at the moment and it goes through anyway because there's nothing much we can do about it02:00:56 ▶ · D. Deliverability: access, sewage, water, infrastructure, viability (“effective”) (125)
So I think when EXMO20 comes up, because it will have to come to a planning committee at some point, or at least I hope it will, if it comes forward in the time before the government abolish us all, and or we become part of a different authority.02:05:00 ▶ · I. Admissions (24)
But estimate 20 will come forward. All these things will be tested through the planning process. So it's not finished, and it's not a done deal.02:05:28 ▶ · The council’s answers (rebuttals) – what officers and councillors said in EXMO20’s defence
It's inclusion in the Local Plan does not mean It is a development site that is definitely going to be developed. It may come to planning, and we may decide, and officers may even decide, that the effects cannot be mitigated, and therefore it can't go forward. But we shall see, and there are many hurdles that such a site will have to overcome before it can be found acceptable.02:05:37 ▶ · D. Deliverability: access, sewage, water, infrastructure, viability (“effective”) (125)
Strategic Planning Committee, 22 September 2026 (2)
but we know how glibly southwest water will simply say a connection exists and so I would then want to see some stringent assessment so who would then assess that that it actually was true because following the logic of that you wouldn't allow any development in Exmouth at all at the moment01:57:19 ▶ · D. Deliverability: access, sewage, water, infrastructure, viability (“effective”) (125)
which actually explains why road traffic across the heaths is not a good thing um but I'm inclined to agree with Councillor Bailey my perception is that road traffic is just ever increasing and hoping that the uptake of electric vehicles will increase it I'm sure it will but it's going to take some time and it's certainly not going to be enough02:34:02 ▶ · A. Habitats Regulations, Pebble Bed Heaths, air quality and ecology (126)
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