News plans for former Exeter Police station.

New plans have been unveiled for the redevelopment of Exeter's former police station and magistrates court, which has been closed for four years.

Last year, Exeter City Council's (ECC) planning committee rejected a proposal to demolish the buildings and construct two large student and co-living apartment blocks across from St Luke’s Campus on Heavitree Road.

The original plans, submitted by the police and crime commissioner’s office and developer Student Roost, aimed to build 646 student flats and 318 co-living apartments on the site. Despite being recommended for approval, the proposal was rejected in February 2023 due to concerns over its size, insufficient residential amenities, negative impact on the surrounding area, and the planned removal of 26 trees. Prior to this, the scheme had already been revised following feedback from planners, which reduced the total number of rooms by 80 to 955 and lowered the height of the buildings. In total, eight design revisions and four rounds of public consultation were carried out. However, an appeal against the refusal was dismissed by a planning inspector in December 2023, citing similar concerns about scale and local impact.

The latest pre-application proposals include 381 student flats and 357 co-living apartments, as well as a commercial unit, associated infrastructure, and landscaping. Shared by planning consultancy DPP, who also managed the previous scheme, the new design splits the development into eight blocks to reduce its visual impact from Heavitree Road and better align with the local character. The co-living blocks will be located to the west, and the student accommodation blocks will sit to the east, just south of the Gorge student development and opposite St. Luke’s Campus. A commercial unit will be placed at the junction of Gladstone Road and Heavitree Road, creating a public space and active frontage near the campus entrance.

Both the student and co-living developments will have separate accessible parking areas for a small number of vehicles, with each building featuring a bike storage facility on the ground floor. An internal service road along the western and northern boundaries will provide access to the parking areas and delivery services.

As for open spaces, the site will feature two courtyards: a co-living courtyard on the west side with gardening spaces and a student courtyard on the east with seating areas. Additional outdoor seating will be available around the commercial unit on Heavitree Road, and several mature trees along this frontage have been preserved.

A public consultation is now open for feedback on the new proposals before they are formally submitted to ECC. The deadline for comments is October 9.