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Following the “Minecraft my home” meet-up, my local councillor Peter Holland made the following request:

What I am hoping to do is show the Planning Committee what will be ‘lost’ if a footpath is constructed along the back of the proposed DCH/Cygnet housing development. It is only a very small strip of land which borders the gardens of the odd numbers from 41 [Warwick Road]. At present the path alongside the garden boundaries is locked outside of school hours.

The land at the rear of the gardens is currently a copse of established hazel trees, some of which are rooted in what appears to be a dilapidated Devon hedge. It is a refuge for wildlife, attracting a wide variety of birds including, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tail Tits, Coal Tits, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Wren, Starling, Robin, Blackbird, Blackcap, House Sparrow, and Woodpigeon. Sparrow hawk are also occasionally seen in the local area. A number of bird species are currently using the trees and bushes for nest sites. Birds can be seen throughout most of the day foraging in the leaf litter or in the branches of the trees. During the summer months, bats are regularly found in our garden, which suggests that they may be roosting very close to the current vegetation. Bats have been witnessed flying in the gardens and the adjacent land this year from the 24 April.

It is noted that an ‘ecology zone’ is proposed within the north-east area of the housing development, but it seems illogical to destroy an established wildlife area by paving it with tarmac only to establish a new ‘ecology zone’ elsewhere. It was also noted that the environmental survey performed described a very limited array of birdlife. Quite clearly the area behind the gardens has a high level of biodiversity beyond that which was originally surveyed.

If the copse were to become a public path with access 24 hours a day, there is a security and vandalism risk to properties and boundary fence and the risk of noise from rowdy members of the public which would impact residents’ privacy. If street lighting were to be installed along the footpath, there is obvious risk of light pollution through residents’ windows.

What I would be grateful for is a Minecraft showing what the copse could look like.

Peter and I paid a site visit on Friday 22nd June, and we were joined by Mark from Exeter City Futures. I had just enough time to put together a Minecraft wilderness before the Planning  Committee meeting on the Monday.

A narrow dirt path winds through mossy stones, tall trees and saplings, creepers, ferns, grasses, fungi, and a few flowers, and eventually gets lost in the undergrowth. My version of Minecraft is a bit limited in terms of bird species, so I had to be content with releasing bats, cats, and rabbits, and a few spider webs.

It’s a small example of how Minecraft can be used to imagine our place, to the extent of forming part of an official planning meeting! Here are some real life photos, Minecraft screenshots before and after, and a video walk-through.

As part of Art Week Exeter, which ran from 22-28 May I held a Minecraft meetup in St Loyes on Sat 26 May.

It was an opportunity for some to learn about Minecraft, and for others to indulge in play.

So within the online world, we now have two herds of ocelots and cows roaming free, and a tribe of villagers somewhere…

Exeter City Futures are supporting the “Minecraft my home” activity, and on the day Mark from ECF kindly helped me out. During the day, he managed to build an ECF branch office in the Tesco car park.

I built the shell of a new St Loyes Community Hub, Cafe and Gallery on the patch of derelict land that used to be a petrol station near Middlemoor. It has a number of really bad design features!

It was good to welcome Peter Holland, my new City Councillor, and I think persuade him of the value of Minecraft as a way of re-imagining neighbourhoods.

Mark and I have also laid some red carpet along ‘desire paths’ – places in real life where people have walked to get from A to B and marked paths where there were none before.

Some of the creations so far are unlikely to happen. Working with Gold Towers – my Trumpesque rebuilding of my home – is never going to get planning permission. And I suspect the Carl Andre / Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy crossover sculpture is always going to be gravity-challenged!

You too can explore, play and build in the Minecraft world of St Loyes. You can download it, the online version should be available until about October 2018, and I’ve written a couple of crib sheets for newbies.

Have fun!