Water Lane Exeter: A professional engagement and consultation process has vital role to play in obtaining permission for large scale developments
KOR Communications played a major role in the exhaustive engagement and consultation process which enabled one of the South West’s biggest ever urban regeneration projects to win outline planning approval.
The Water Lane development will see 980 flats, 320 student accommodation units and shops, restaurants and other facilities built on a waterfront site on former industrial land in Exeter
The project began for KOR’s public affairs team in December 2021 when we were commissioned by the Water Lane Development Management Company to develop and deliver a comprehensive strategic programme of public consultation.
Working closely with Nash Partnership, who brought forward the outline planning application, KOR’s team, led by Managing Director Annette Richman and Senior Consultant in Public Affairs, Andrew Howard, engaged with stakeholders and provided detailed feedback on the plan.
Invitations to attend public exhibitions on the plans were extended to more than 1,000 stakeholders and neighbours. Two exhibitions were held, in June 2022 and March 2023. Sophisticated stakeholder mapping helped establish the best way to ensure everyone affected by the plan was kept fully informed and given the opportunity to provide feedback.
Priority communication was also undertaken with 200 residents closest to the development site, with 929 addresses from slightly further afield also included in the consultation and added to the database.
Letters and posters were used to give the widest possible exposure to news of the exhibitions, with the A4 posters displayed in six prominent locations estimated to have the highest levels of footfall and traffic movement.
Significant individuals, including Exeter City Council leader Cllr Phil Bialyk, the then Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw, then the MD of bus company Stagecoach South West Mike Watson, and representatives from Exeter College were all invited to visit the site and hear about the plans.
Councillors, including ward members from Devon County Council, Exeter City Council, representatives from the Exeter Civic Society and a range of other organisations, from the Harbour Master to Devon and Cornwall Police, were all contacted and kept informed.
A project website, which included a designated feedback page, was built and updated by KOR, and from June 2022 to July 2023 almost 4,000 people visited the site. Traffic was driven to the website through the press coverage and social media.
The scheme was described by Paul Knott, planning committee chairman and Labour member for Exwick, as the "largest and most complex" planning application he had dealt with in his 18 years as a councillor.
The outline plan was unanimously approved at Exeter City Council’s planning meeting on January 28th 2025.