Lower Hoopern Valley is a steeply sided, 38-acre plot of land to the south of Streatham Campus. The space is currently maintained by the University of Exeter’s grounds team, and has been identified as an area of opportunity for enhanced biodiversity, community use and research activity. The valley currently has one public right of way that cuts across the northern section of the space from the North West to South East with limited access to the wider space comprising areas of woodland (mature and young), pasture, open grassland and Taddiford Brooke.

Since our first public engagement period in May 2023, we have taken the feedback received and drafted a design that would see us meet our overall objectives for the Lower Hoopern Valley, which received significant support:

  • Enhance biodiversity and natural capital,
  • Community engagement and education,
  • Natural sciences research opportunities, and,
  • Carbon sequestration and storage.

Please see below a summary of the feedback response from our local stakeholders, including reference as to how the feedback has informed the current design:

         

Y‌ou can also open these documents as a pdf file:

Hoopern Valley You Said We Did

Below is an annotated map of the Lower Hoopern Valley that summarises the current design and lists the set of management prescriptions and interventions that would achieve the above objectives. 

         

Y‌ou can also open these maps as a pdf file:

Hoopern Valley Biodiversity Enhancement and Infrastructure Proposals

We really value the views of our community and local stakeholders as we look to finalise the designs for the Lower Hoopern Valley. Please consider these plans and let us know your thoughts via the feedback form at the link below: 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=d10qkZj77k6vMhM02PBKU4lLLSg4DbJFvZ7GgmEHk-NUOFNZMEQwN1I4V08xVlpYUDRYSE1MRFNGUi4u

We are holding an in-person exhibition on Tuesday 28 November 2023 in the Innovation Centre Café between 15.30 and 19.00. The Innovation Centre is building 25 on the campus map - feel free to drop by, chat to us and give your feedback to feed into our plans.