County Cricket Club pavilion may be demolished for student flats

Hot on the heels of Exeposé‘s exclusive about possible demolition and construction plans at St. Luke’s campus, the Exeter Express and Echo is reporting that the traditional cricket pavilion, at the Devon County ground opposite campus, could be demolished to make way for “high quality student flats”.

Photo Credit: Niklas Rahmel

According to the Express and Echo‘s website, long-serving Exeter Cricket Club chairman Bob Price thinks that the building plans should cause no “real controversy”, because the alternative to the “limited development” is that the ground’s pitch and open space would be lost for future generations of Exeter residents.

A family trust has allowed both Devon Cricket Club and Exeter Cricket Club to play at the ground, rent free, since 1902. However, next year this long term lease will finally run out, forcing Exeter Cricket Club in particular (the only amateur team in their division) to seek new forms of income.

Mr Price told the Express and Echo: “We sub-let the adjoining squash club and we will lose that income when the lease is up. How are we to replace that income?”

“We don’t pay any of our players. We want to play simply for the beauty of the game. We will retain the ground and we will have a sizeable amount of money to build a new club house next to the squash club”, he added.

It is not yet clear whether the student accommodation Mr Price is proposing would be approved by the university, or a private venture.

However, the plans came as a surprise to the Students’ Guild. Grace Hopper, VP for Welfare and Community, told Exeposé that “the new article from the Express and Echo was the first I’d heard of anything”. She added though that she would now be “investigating the alleged plans”.

There are already strong indications that the plans to knock down the pavilion might encounter considerable opposition. Councillor Percy Prose explained to the Express and Echo that “temporary listed protection status” had been used to save buildings in the past and he thought there was scope for a “Save Our Pavilion” campaign.

A council spokesman has also stated that there are “no current planning applications” and that any such applications would be subject to both “legal tests” and the new St. James Neighbourhood Plan. The Western Morning News website suggests that the Neighbourhood Plan may give residents a say in the future landscape of the cricket ground.

Many students would welcome a say in the future of the pavilion, as it is used to host Athletics Union events. Men’s hockey captain Sam Plater told Exeposé that the building was used to host his society’s match teas. He went on to condemn the possible plans: “it would be a travesty to demolish such a beautiful, traditional pavilion that makes the Cricket Ground what it is: a quintessential Cricket Pitch”.

Confusion reigns over the exact purpose of the potential planned flats and their benefits to students. Mr Price told the Express and Echo that the flats would accommodate students close to campus, so that they are not “taking up houses in the city”. Does this mean that they are not intended for first year students, who would usually live in university accommodation, either on campus or nearby?

Second-year History student Oscar Maddox questioned whether there would be a demand for flats on the edge of campus among second and third years. He said: “While it would be nice to live near campus, I would worry about how much it would cost. Also I think there are lots of benefits to living nearer town, so I’m not sure how many people would want to live there”.

Whether the development will even go ahead or not remains to be seen, and the future of cricket in Exeter is also uncertain.

Liam Trim, Online Editor

Follow @ExeposeNews on Twitter and like us here on Facebook.

EXCLUSIVE: Goodbye St Luke's?

Buildings on the right hand side of the image (in grey) are labelled “to be demolished.”

Exeposé has been shown pictures of plans suggesting that the University is considering a radical overhaul of infrastructure on St Luke’s campus.

Last week Exeposé revealed the announcement of developments to both Streatham and St Luke’s, but the leaked documents suggest the extent of  further changes are yet to be decided and may be extensive.

The pictures (right and below) appear to suggest that around half of the University’s smaller campus could be demolished – including the Sports Centre, Medical School Building, Baring Court and the newly renovated Library.

The plans also detail new buildings which would replace the demolished structures. The vision of what these new buildings could look like appears to be spacious and modern.

A student who wishes to remain unnamed alleges to have found the plans after a meeting between University bodies in the St Luke’s Medical School.

Folders detailing a meeting involving Exeter Medical School Management Team and the General Medical Council were discovered by a group of second year students, upon arrival at a seminar.

The documents were seemingly accidentally left in a top floor room of the Medical School, raising questions about why such sensitive plans were inadvertently discovered by students, considering the substantial amount of sensitive material which the University handles.

The University told Exeposé that only the developments outlined last week are formally planned, but confirmed that the meeting did take place.

Hugh McCann, Director of Estate Development said: “We are currently looking at the long term development of St Luke’s with a firm of consultants. This exercise is about exploring the future capacity of the Campus over the next 5-15-25 year period. This would involve demolition of buildings in my view, though not North Cloisters or the chapel.”

“At this stage it is not possible to say definitely what the extent of any future development would be, given the timescales we are looking at, but we need to explore the possibilities at this stage in accordance with good estate management practice.”

“Immediate works are the conversions of College House and upper floors of South Cloisters for the Medical School to move into this year and next.”

There are currently 1,000 students on St Luke’s Campus, which caters for Sports Scientists and Medical Students, amongst others.

The Medical School told Exeposé: “These documents are in the earliest stages of a wider discussion about potential development of the St. Luke’s campus over the next 25 years. We are merely considering all options at this point, and no funding has been identified for this long term development. Once we have considered the options, we will consult with students and staff before any action is taken.

In the shorter term, we are progressing with refurbishments on two buildings on the St. Luke’s campus, as part of the University’s commitment to providing the best possible facilities for students and staff.”

The department added that: “beyond this, no decisions have been made for capital projects at St. Luke’s. Any future work would respect the fact that some of the buildings are listed, and a full consultation would be undertaken”, before concluding by saying “we are now looking into how these documents entered the public domain.”

Jon Bagnall, VP for Participation & Campuses, revealed that the drawings had not been seen by the Students’ Guild, suggesting the ideas are in their infancy.

He said: “I can’t comment on them specifically, however it is good news that the University is planning to invest in the long-term future of the St Luke’s campus, which has previously been uncertain.”

Harrison Jones and Tom Elliott, Online News Editors

Follow @ExeposeNews on Twitter and like us here on Facebook.

Buildings in red are labelled as “proposed new buildings.”