Exeter City Council

Exeter was an ancient borough with city status. It was historically governed by a corporation, also known as the city council. The city was given the right to appoint a mayor by King John in the early thirteenth century. In 1537 the city was made a county corporate with its own sheriff and quarter sessions, making it administratively separate from the surrounding county of Devon.

The city council was reformed in 1836 to become a municipal borough, governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city of Exeter" but informally known as the corporation or city council. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 Exeter was considered large enough to run its own county-level services and so it was made a county borough, independent from Devon County Council.

The city was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming a lower-tier district authority with Devon County Council providing county-level functions to the city for the first time. The city kept the same outer boundaries, but gained control of the "Devon County Buildings Area", being three separate exclaves of Devon surrounded by the city, containing Devon County Hall, Rougemont Castle and the county judges' lodgings at Larkbeare House. Exeter's city status was re-conferred on the reformed district, allowing the council to take the name Exeter City Council.

In 2010 the government proposed that the city should become an independent unitary authority, like nearby Plymouth and Torbay. The statutory orders to set up the unitary authority were passed in Parliament and a new unitary city council was due to start in Exeter on 1 April 2011. However, following the change of government at the 2010 general election the reorganisation was cancelled.

Exeter City Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Devon County Council. There are no civil parishes in Exeter; the entire city is an unparished area.

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since 2012.

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms took effect has been as follows:

Leadership

The role of Lord Mayor of Exeter is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1983 have been:

Composition

Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was:

The Greens and Liberal Democrats sit together as the "Progressive Group". The next elections are due in 2024.

 

Full council meetings are generally held at the city's Guildhall at 203 High Street, which was built around 1470. The council's main offices are at the Civic Centre, a 1970s building on Paris Street in the city centre.

Since the last boundary changes in 2016, the council has comprised 39 councillors, representing 13 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) being elected at a time for a four-year term. Devon County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no elections to the city council.

Wards and councillors

The wards of the city for City Council purposes are listed below.

Following the May 2022 elections, David Harvey (Pinhoe) left the Labour group, and subsequently sits as an Independent.