Cllr. David Thomas: 'We want to deliver exciting regeneration schemes for our community'

Following the announcement last week from the National Heritage Lottery Fund I have been asked a few questions about what projects this would be supporting, and I wanted to let you know here some of the answers I have given.
The most frequent question I received was ‘what projects or schemes this fund will be used on?’ To clarify, the funding is for the whole of the Bay, so that includes heritage assets in Brixham, Paignton and Torquay. It has not been allocated to any specific project. We have an extraordinary range of heritage assets, many of which are internationally recognised. This exciting partnership will allow us to ensure a range of our local heritage is more widely recognised, celebrated, and supported now and in the future. I can’t yet confirm exactly what those will be, as work will soon be underway around identifying the range of assets that will be supporting. You can help us with that.
I have also been asked about what the next steps are. As you can imagine a lot of planning needs to take place and the first step is the development phase, which will be taking place during 2024. This is where you come in, as we will be running various community consultations to understand which heritage projects have the potential to be transformational for Torbay.
Once we know when these consultations are taking place, I will let you know through this column. We will also be sharing it through our eNewsletter One Torbay, so if you are not already signed up to it, I would encourage you to visit the Torbay Council website and click on the button at the top of the home page and sign up. A lot of this information on next steps will be included in there as well. It will be great to have many of you attend these consultation events to help us shape what this funding can contribute to.
Along with improving our heritage assets we also want to deliver exciting regeneration schemes for our community, providing spaces for you, your families, and businesses to thrive. And in a big step forward for this, at Cabinet this week we discussed the recommendation to establish a partnership with a preferred Regeneration Partner.
Following our attendance at UKREiiF, an investment and development conference held earlier this year, we received high levels of interest about our plans to improve and regenerate the Bay. This event gave us the opportunity to put Torbay and our Torbay Story about who we are as a place on the map. Over the summer we have spoken to a range of potential developers and have been delighted to short-list proposals from two organisations. Each of them credible, experienced, and capable organisations.  
We want to deliver exciting regeneration schemes for our community and discussing at Cabinet this proposal of a preferred partner is a great step forward. We hope this will provide you, government, and other potential funders, with assurance about our determination to make this positive change for Torbay.
The next step is contracts and agreements will be agreed and signed and we hope to announce in November who this partner is. We will also then be able to share which projects they will be working with us on.
Lastly, I wanted to remind you that our consultation on our draft Community & Corporate Plan closes on Sunday 29 October. The draft Plan has been developed using the feedback we received during our first Resident Satisfaction Survey. The results from the survey identified three strategic themes of community and people, Pride in Place and Economic Growth. Each priority aims to deliver positive outcomes for all Torbay residents and businesses. From ensuring our town centres are safe and welcoming for all, improving the delivery, affordability, and quality of housing for residents in Torbay, to raising skills levels and developing a year-round economy.
To read the draft Plan and to also see the results of our recent Resident Survey visit our Engagement webpages at www.yoursay.torbay.gov.uk