MDDC202109-003 East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon and Teignbridge - Joint strategy

A suitably qualified consultant is sought to prepare an East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon and Teignbridge Joint Strategy on behalf of the four local authorities. The Joint Strategy will articulate the authorities' shared ambitions for growth, investment, infrastructure needs, and environmental management in the area covered by East Devon District, Exeter City, Mid Devon District and Teignbridge District Councils. The Joint Strategy will be firmly rooted through engagement with the four Councils and Devon County Council, relevant stakeholders, public consultation, and informed through national planning policy and guidance, local development plans and other programmes and strategies, and based on technical evidence and studies. Between 2017 and 2020, East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon and Teignbridge Councils worked in partnership with Devon County Council to prepare the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan (GESP). The GESP would have been a statutory plan that set the overall spatial strategy and planning policy framework for the area, including the level of housing and employment land to be provided in the period to 2040. More localised policies would have been set out in new Local Plans produced subsequently and separately by the four authorities.

However, in late 2020, the four authorities formally resolved to end work on the GESP and to instead focus on producing their own Local Plans containing both strategic and local policies and site allocations. Further details about the Local Plans are provided below:

- East Devon District Council o Regulation 18 Draft Plan Consultation: June 2022 o Publication Draft: October 2022 - Exeter City Council o Issues Consultation: September 2021 o Draft Plan Consultation: September 2022 - Mid Devon District Council o Issues Consultation: January 2022 o Draft Policies and Site Options: June 2023 - Teignbridge District Council o Regulation 18 Consultation, Sites for Wind Energy, Gypsy and Traveler Accommodation and Small Sites: November 2021 o Publication Draft: October 2022

Nevertheless, there remain many common issues, challenges and opportunities facing the four authorities. To this end, the four authorities have formally agreed to collaborate on preparing a non-statutory East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon and Teignbridge Joint Strategy, as the most appropriate alternative way of ensuring a coordinated approach to meeting development needs across the sub-region.