Exeter (Local Environment Profile 2011)

• There is one Air Quality Management Area within Exeter City caused by emissions of higher levels of Nitrogen Dioxide from traffic.  The main roads into Exeter are covered under this one area.

• To view the area - click here.  

Source: DEFRA

• There are 3 river water bodies within Exeter.  Our latest assessment of these classified two as moderate and one as good. 

• This compares with 373 river water bodies within Devon. Our latest assessment of these classified 1% as bad, 9.3% as poor, 57.4% as moderate and 32.2% as good.

• The main reasons for less than good status include: impacted fish communities, high levels of phosphate, impacted diatom communities and physical modification.

• For information on the activities taking place to help your local river improve, please see the Earth Chattering pages for an interactive map and much more information.  

Please note - Water bodies do not fit exactly within local authority boundaries. The figures have been derived from those water bodies whose centres are within the district in question. If all water bodies within a district had been included, double accounting would have taken place. Some water bodies have yet to be classified. For the purpose of this exercise, these have been removed from the figures published.

Source: Environment Agency  

• Exeter is the smallest local authority area in the South West, with almost 47,877  m2 within its realm, almost 0.2% of the 24,477,128 m2 total area of the South West. 

• The largest proportion of land in Exeter is classified as green space, accounting for 24,738 m2 or 51% of its total area in 2005.  This is significantly different to the county average of 92% and regional average of 91%.

• The ninth Local Environmental Quality Survey conducted by Keep Britain Tidy, was carried out between April 2009 and March 2010. The Summary Report key messages included :

~ Overall Standards within England remain the same as last year, with no change in the Cleansing Index score, which is 76, out of a possible 100.

~ 63% of standards for all LEQ indicators were either Good or Satisfactory.

~ The South East joins the South West as top performing region overall, for the first time this year.

~ The South West has been either the top performing region or joint top performing region since the 2007/08 Survey. 

• The survey carried out between April 2006 - March 2007, is available down to Local Authority Level, please click here for the details.
  

• Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) are areas of land that drain into waters polluted by nitrates, such that the ecosystem is at risk of being disturbed, or the water is likely to exceed 50 milligrams of nitrate in each litre.

• Within Exeter, there are a few small areas designated NVZ with no areas of deferred slurry storage.
• NVZ regulations come fully into force on 1 Jan 2012, except in deferred Slurry storage areas which have until 1 Jan 2013.
• For more information on NVZ, please see Environment Agency pages.
• For detailed maps relating to NVZ areas, please see source pages.

Source: Environment Agency

• Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) gives advice on dealing with diffuse pollution from agriculture and the impact on water courses. 

• CSF is a voluntary initiative, where as NVZs is a statutory obligation. CSF looks at : best practice on manure and pesticide usage; Promoting good soil structure; protecting watercourses from run-off and best practice on stock management.

• There is one Catchment Sensitive Farming project on the rivers Exe and Otter which covers an area of 589km2.

Source: Environment Agency

• The map below shows the soils present within Exeter, however most of this is covered by the city of Exeter and very little is used for agricultural activities.
• In a broad landscape context this area is made up of medium textured soils, clay based heavy soils and light textured soils. Many of these soils have been overbuilt as the city of Exeter developed.

• Soil type is a major factor in determining the type of agriculture that can be supported. Generally medium textured soils support mixed farming while clay rich heavy soils underlie dairy pasture while the light textured soils support largely arable and horticulture.

• The latest detailed (2007) DEFRA agricultural census data available for Exeter reveals little since much of the  data is commercially suppressed though horticultural activities appear well represented.

Source:  DEFRA

• For the period April 2005 - March 2010 inclusive, there were no incidents of major impact to land, air or water in Exeter. There were 2 incidents with significant impact to water for the same period.

• For the period April 2010 - March 2011 inclusive, there were no incidents of major or significant impact to land, air or water in Exeter. 

Source : Environment Agency

• During 2009/10 there were 748 reported incidents of flytipping in Exeter, the second highest in Devon. This was a 36% fall from the 1167 incidents in 2008/09.

Source: DEFRA

Please note: incidents of fly tipping are reported differently by each council. One may log black bin bags out on an incorrect day as a fly tipping incident where another council do not log this. Please be aware of these reporting discrepancies on Flycapture when looking at the data in comparison to other councils.

• Exeter City Council was not in the top ten lowest producers of residual waste produced however were doing well in the bottom half of the league table in the South West, with 480.16 kg/household. 

• In 2009/10, South Hams had the lowest level of residual waste in the South West with 341.04kg/household. The highest in the South West was Isles of Scilly Council with 1,452kg/household.  

   

• Recycling and composting has increased significantly in the South West, from 14.9% in 2000 / 2001 to 43.5% in 2009 / 2010.

• Exeter City Council in 2009/10 against the other South West Councils, was in the bottom half of the recycling league table with 36.18%. 

• The highest rate of recycling in the SW was Cotswold District Council with 60.4%,  and the lowest rate in the SW was Isles of Scilly with 18.9%.

Source: DEFRA  

• Devon County Council landfilled 46.45%, however this equated to the largest amount in tonnes landfilled in the South West with 194,720 tonnes.

• Bournemouth Borough Council landfilled the least percentage waste in 2009/10. (37.8%). Plymouth City Council landfilled the largest percentage of waste in 2009/10 (64%).