Exeter grants planning permission for £130m ‘urban village’

Exeter City Council has granted planning permission to a £130m housing development on a 15-acre brownfield site previously owned by Network Rail.Developer Eutopia Homes has plans for an ‘urban village’ in Exeter with 400 new homes of various types and tenures.There will also be an extra-car facility with space for 65 residents.However, the developer hopes that there won’t be many cars. Most of the properties will have no car parking space – “to help tackle car dependency and reduce CO2 emissions”. But there will be an electric car and bike hire scheme on site.Eutopia Homes acquired the site from Network Rail in October 2018 with Chenavari Investment Managers and plans to start construction on site later this year.Eutopia Homes was launched in 2017 by Scott Hammond, one of the co-founders of Essential Living, and has since secured a £365m pipeline of mid-market homes for rent and sale. It also recently announced a £105m scheme for 500 flats in Salford.