Hotel plans threaten peace in Exeter
Friends in Exeter object to building plans
A planned seven-storey hotel in central Exeter, if built, will ‘totally dominate the Meeting House and… invade the privacy of those wishing to use the building and the garden’, say local Friends.
Trustees of Devon Area Meeting have written to Exeter City Council objecting to the plans. An office block was originally intended for the site, but the developers have since opted to build a hotel instead. According to the planning application, this would be taller than the planned office block and would cover a larger space. Its windows would face the Meeting house and garden. In their objection letter, the trustees added that the hotel’s proposed roof garden would allow occupants to ‘look down into the gardens and through the windows of adjacent houses in Pavilion Place’.
Michael Baker, clerk to the trustees, added: ‘The change of use from office to hotel accommodation is likely to lead to greater noise levels, particularly in the evenings and at weekends when the Meeting house is most heavily used.’
The Meeting house is on Wynards Lane, immediately south of the proposed development. Exeter City Council hopes to have a decision on the planning application by 14 March.
