Dave Thomas: 'An exciting time for the Bay'

Last week was the official start of Spring, and hopefully not to jinx anything it does feel like the weather is starting to turn warmer.

With the sun being out, our minds also start to think about what the summer brings, and last week you hopefully saw our announcement about which planes we have successfully been able to secure for the English Riviera Airshow.

It is great to see that the RAF have confirmed that the Red Arrows, the Typhoon and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will be with us and flying on both days of the Airshow. 

As soon as we hear about what else has been secured, I will share it here in my column and it will be in our weekly eNewsletter One Torbay which is delivered every Friday straight into your inbox. 

I know residents and visitors alike will be so excited to have the Red Arrows for both days this year, the pilots really enjoy displaying across Torbay, almost as much as we enjoy hosting them.

Earlier this week we got to see the exciting plans and the first images of the regeneration plans for the Torquay waterfront scheme, which is the old Debenhams building.

There have been ambitions to redevelop this site after the council purchased it in 2020. 

Planning was granted for a mixed-use scheme in 2023, however upon coming into office in May 2023, we discovered the plans for this were not financially viable. Together with unviable plans for Crossways in Paignton led us to seek a regeneration partner.

This first look shows two buildings that will stretch across the footprint which takes in the original department store and the small store further down. 

With its south-facing views over the harbour area and beyond, the site has a unique selling point that ultimately makes this area an attractive proposition for an investor or developer, to deliver a hotel with ground floor space for commercial use. 

The delivery of this scheme, which is estimated to be in the region of £70 million, would significantly increase the appeal and land value of other town centre opportunities and developments. As well as attracting new visitors to the Harbourside.

Our public, private sector partnership with Milligan and Wilmott Dixon has allowed us to move forward with several ambitious regeneration plans on sites across the Bay. These latest plans really will revolutionise the harbourside in Torquay, complementing not only our new public realm space, but other private sector investment happening around the area. 

Over the summer there will be opportunities for you to have your say on the proposals as part of the planning process. And again, I’ll share more here about that closer to the time.

Staying on the harbour, we received the good news this week of a new tenant for Living Coasts. ARC marine, who are a local company and currently have offices just down the road from the site in Torquay, have signed an exclusivity agreement with us and the Wild Planet Trust. 

This is the first major step towards transforming the area into a state-of-the-art Marine Restoration Centre.

ARC have secured significant investment to redevelop Living Coasts into its operations headquarters and a research and development hub for ocean conservation and habitat restoration. 

I am thrilled that together with Wild Planet Trust we have been able to find a new user for the prominent harbourside location. 

The infrastructure lends itself perfectly for the work ARC do with their international connections, they will be putting not just Torquay but the Bay on the world map.

By keeping their operations within Torbay, they can continue to grow local talent and inspire a new generation of marine conservationists.

It certainly is an exciting time for the Bay.