20,000-seater concert arena may be part of strategic plan

AN INDOOR sports stadium and concert arena with a capacity for 20,000 people could be built in the Greater Exeter area.

This comes hot on the heels of plans by Torquay United charimanClark Osborne to build a 10,000-seater sport stadium that can expand into a 30,000 capacity concert venue at Nightingale Park.

East Devon, Exeter City, Mid Devon and Teignbridge councils are preparing the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan to cover strategic matters for their area.

The plan could see 57,000 homes built across the four council areas by 2040, as well as infrastructure improvements, but council are also considering includes the idea of developing a regionally or nation- ally significant sports arena and concert venue.

The idea was initially suggested by East Devon District Council’s deputy leader Cllr Phil Skinner and has been supported by Teignbridge District Council’s leader Cllr Jeremy Christophers.

Cllr Christophers said: “There needs to be benefits to the area of the increased level of housing that will be provided. The Greater Exeter Strategic Plan cannot just be a document about housing, but also about infrastructure and more highlights for the area. The proviso of the document is that the GESP area will become a rural city, but it absolutely needs the infrastructure in place, and that has to include all the things that you would expect to find in the city. We are seeing what we can provide around an indoor sports facility and a concert arena and to see if it is deliverable to have one in the area. We are looking at the evidence of need for a sport zone and a concert venue that could host 10,000-20,000 in the area. We would need to make sure it stacks up financially, but it is welcomed and we think there is a need for it.

“There is nothing this side of Bristol like it that can give a year-round audience in a stadium of around 10,000-20,000 people. We feel there is a need for this, but we will have to see whether it is what people want.”

Cllr Skinner, speaking at the East Devon Strategic Planning Committee, said: “My own aspiration about talking to people is about what we can get something out of this for ourselves and looking at an op- portunity for young people and them being aspirational through sport and music.

“Why can’t we be blue-sky thinking about something like this for the region through the GESP process. I want this in our patch.”

No location for where any stadium would go has yet been decided, but Cllr Christophers added it would have to be accessible for four councils.

“Making it accessible for all four areas cuts it down to around only four or five sites that can meet all the criteria we are looking at,” Cllr Christophers said. “Any stadium may need to grow over time and would have to be built so it can expand as it could be something that draws people in from all over the South West.”

He added: “There are people in their mid-20s who should be able to get on the housing ladder and who are in full time work who cannot, and that need to change. But these people will leave the district and go elsewhere unless there are reasons for them to stay. We need these people to stay to power our economy in the way that we need them to. If we wait 20 years before doing anything then that will be end up being a big problem for the area.”

Consultation on the specific issues around the vision for the GESP, and how to make it real, was set to begin in October.

However, East Devon Strategic Planning Committee unanimously rejected the current document, saying it was ‘simply not fit for purpose’. All four councils need to agree to consult on the document before it goes out for public consultation.