Alison salutes community’s finest at Torbay Business Awards

Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez is honoured to be supporting the Torbay Weekly Naturally Inspiring Business Awards in 2025.

The Commissioner’s Business Community Champion Award recognises the work being done in Torbay to keep the area a safe place to live, work and visit.

Last year, Alison was overwhelmed by the number of entries in this category, which saw a significant increase from previous years.

Great Parks Community won the award, while Torbay United (led by managing director Rev Nathan Kiyaga), East Street Pub Company Ltd, and Torbay’s community builders were shortlisted.

Great Parks Community is a volunteer-led charity supporting a geographically isolated and socio-economically disadvantaged housing estate in Paignton. The centre serves as a vital hub, offering children’s clubs, national holiday programmes and wellbeing projects for all ages.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “What makes our centre unique is that we respond to local needs rather than assume what is required. One of our young leaders secured retail employment after gaining experience through our Essentials and Tuck Shop. We also operate restorative practice meetings to address issues between young people, and one of our teenagers received respectful support during their gender transition.

“We help volunteers create CVs and referral letters and provide both in-house and online training opportunities. Many express a sense of being valued and achieving personal growth. Struggling families have received food vouchers and secured household support grants. During the cold winter months, those facing rising energy costs could warm up in our safe space with hot drinks and refreshments.”

As a Torbay resident herself, Alison can see first-hand the businesses working tirelessly to ensure the Bay can be enjoyed by everyone.  

Now in her third term as police and crime commissioner, her role is to be the voice of the people in policing, to hold the chief constable to account, and ensure the delivery of an effective and efficient police service. 

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a key priority for Alison and after listening to feedback from residents and business in Torbay, she launched the Street Focus: Torquay project last year. This is a multi-agency approach to bring  long-term change to the area. 

Street Focus not only aims to address anti-social behaviour and increase community safety but is a collective vision for safer city and town centres where our  communities can thrive.  

While the project is led by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), commitment from other partners is key. Currently, Devon & Cornwall Police, Torbay Council, SWISCo, Crimestoppers and Neighbourhood Watch are involved with more partner collaboration in the pipeline. 

Good progress has been made, including bringing new life to vacant shops in the town centre with plans underway to allow local artists to showcase their work and run creative programmes. A tougher stance on drink and drug use, as well as ASB, has been achieved through the public space protection orders (PSPOs) introduced by Torbay Council in June 2024. To date, over 500 alcohol-related PSPOs have been issued in Torquay and 60 dispersal orders have been given across Torquay and Paignton. 

Hotspot policing is now well established across Torquay and Paignton, bringing together police officers, town centre officers and street marshals to deliver a more visible presence in our communities. More than 2,500 hours of hotspot patrols have been delivered and more than 7,500 people engaged with. This has contributed to residents and businesses reporting feeling safer and reassured by the additional patrols. There are also some 300 cameras across Torbay, with the CCTV team providing intel that has led to arrests. 

Street and local park cleanliness issues are also being tackled by the SWISCo neighbourhood enforcement team who work on behalf of Torbay Council. The team deals with problems like littering, fly-tipping, graffiti and dog fouling. Between November 2024 and January 2025, they issued 75 fixed penalty notices, but their primary focus is on engaging and educating the public.

To combat retail crime, the town centre officers have promoted the StoreNet radio system which connects businesses with CCTV and police. Currently, 69 StoreNet radios are in operation, along with 63 NiteNet radios for night-time economy businesses. 

Something the OPCC is excited to be piloting with the police and businesses in Torbay this year is the UKPAC Business Crime Reduction Solution. This will support local businesses to report retail crime and the police to collate evidence to prosecute offenders. 

Engaging with the younger generation is vital to building a sustainable, vibrant future for Torbay.  

South Devon College students presented their ideas to address community issues to the Street Focus project team. Plymouth Argyle Community Trust will also be funded by the OPCC to deliver youth programmes in Torbay and Plymouth, helping to create opportunities for young people and tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour. 

The Street Focus project demonstrates the importance of working with community-minded organisations when it comes to creating safer, resilient and connected communities. This is why Alison is excited to see this year’s nominations for the Commissioner’s Business Community Champion Award.

How to enter

Interest in the Torbay Weekly Naturally Inspiring Business Awards 2025 is already gaining momentum — and we want to make it as easy as possible for businesses to enter or to be nominated.

Entries are now open  for this year’s awards, with a date of Wednesday, June 11 already set for the glittering finals night at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay.

The awards have grown in size and stature since being launched three years ago. Now we are keen for even more businesses and their people to be saluted and recognised.

As before, you can enter a category as a business yourself.  But now you can also nominate a business —  and we will do the work for them. You nominate them  and a member of the Torbay Weekly  team will make contact with them to help with the application process. Just go online to  torbaybusinessawards.co.uk to enter or nominate.

We also have two more categories for you to consider. South Devon building supplies firm Inter-Line are on board again with their Apprentice of the Year category and we are also delighted to welcome  Torquay United FC to the awards. They will be sponsoring a new Sport and Health and Wellbeing category.

To enter, go online to the website  torbaybusinessawards.co.uk where you will find out how to enter or how to nominate businesses for the awards, the categories and their criteria. Entries will close at midnight on Friday, April 25. A judging panel will sit to choose the shortlisted finalists of each category. The finalists will be announced online and in paper on Thursday, May 15. They will go forward to the finals night.

This year’s sponsors

Torbay Council (headline sponsors and Overall Winner); Wollens (Best New Business); Newton Abbot Racecourse (Best Marketing Initiative); Stagecoach (Greener Futures award); English Riviera Bid Company (Tourism Company of Year); Princess Theatre (Rising Star Award); South Devon College (Inspiring Employer of Year); Police and Crime Commissioner  Alison Hernandez (Commissioner's Business Community Champion);  Torbay Business Forum (Small Business of Year); Majestic Holidays (The James Wright Award for Inspirational Leadership, or ‘Jimmy Award’); Sally Allen (Innovation); Inter-Line (Apprentice of the Year); Torquay United FC (Sport and Health and Wellbeing Business of the Year).

 The Torbay Weekly Lifetime Achievement awards for contribution to business and the community will be announced on the final's night. The Overall Business of the Year will be chosen from across the category winners on the finals night and is not a category for entries.