The anti-social and crime-related problems blighting the Bay's town centres have been the centre of attention for several years now. None more so than in Torquay and especially the top half of town and the Castle Circus area.
But I think that not even the fiercest of critics can argue that it hasn't been for the want of trying to solve those issues which are affecting both local residents and visitors alike - although with some critics you will never win and I'm not holding my breath!
Literally millions of pounds have been invested in a variety of projects and schemes to try and improve the area which is still perceived by some to be an unsafe area and by others a no-go area in reality.
Police, Torbay Council and other key agencies have been working together to try and turn things around.
Devon Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez has invested heavily in the battle for a better and safer environment and future with plenty of OPCC and Home Office funding being diverted into the Bay and, in particular, Torquay.
The latest project funded by her office is to pilot in the Bay a UK Partners Against Crime (UK PAC) initiative which is aimed at bringing together a community of like minded businesses working together to reduce retail crime. Details of the scheme and how it works are being outlined and demonstrated at information sessions on Monday April 14 between 1.30pm and 3.30pm or 4.30pm to 6.30pm at the Banking Hall at Torquay Town Hall. Mrs Hernandez's office is paying for the first year of the scheme with a subscription fee for members after that.
I gather UK PAC is also all about retailers joining forces and being able to record and report crime. The message from the Commissioner and PAC is: "Businesses are stronger together. By working in partnership, we can fight back against retail crime."
UK PAC comes under the umbrella of the Torquay Street Focus project, with key stakeholders and the community again pulled together by the Commissioner looking at various ways of collaborating and making Torquay and Castle Circus a safer and more attractive place.
Money has also been invested on more bobbies on the beat, more proactive policing including drug busts and arrests, hotspot policing, a mobile cop shop, Police Community Support Officers and all kinds of dispersal and protection orders. Street marshalls and town centre officers have been employed and the CCTV camera network improved.
The Force has also just been awarded more than £4million in Home Office funding which will pay for another 100 on-the-beat officers and PCSOs with some bound to be heading for Torbay.
As I say, it's not for the want of trying.
But ASB incidents are still a cause for concern across the Force for Mrs Hernandez. She says: "It's concerning to see the latest data that reveals the number of recorded ASB incidents increased by 9.9 per cent over the past 12 months to February 2025 – the equivalent of 2,302 more incidents. The most common incidents officers are dealing with is rowdy and inconsiderate behaviour, closely followed by nuisance neighbours and street drinking behaviour.
"It is why in my budget for policing for 2025-26, I have committed significant funding to tackling ASB. There is even more resources being allocated to ASB over the next 12 months, including an additional £1million from the government to continue hot spot policing, new money for preventing serious violence, plus £1milllion of my own funding which is being allocated to areas that need strategic investment to deliver my Police and Crime Plan 2025-29.
"What is very clear to me is that without joint efforts with other partners and organisations, ASB will continue to make people’s lives a misery across the peninsula. It is not an issue police can deal with alone and only through working together with all our partners will we finally begin to see changes that everyone living or visiting Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly rightly deserves."
Mrs Hernandez has always had a bee in her bonnet about the Leonard Stocks homeless hostel in Factory Row and its impact on the Castle Circus problems. Interestingly, she is taking council leaders on a fact-finding mission to see how a similar hostel is being run successfully in St Austell in Cornwall.
She says: "We have had problems in Castle Circus for years. It is my home town. I am fed up with it. It is seen as the biggest unsafe area in the whole of my patch. There has been apathy and under-reporting. I need people to report what they see to us. People do not go there any more because of the legacy of perception or reality."
She added: "The 50 per cent success for arrest to conviction for shoplifting is the best in the Force, yet we have had several stabbings in the vicinity of Castle Circus in the past year."
Torbay Council leader Dave Thomas said one of the priorities of his administration when elected two years ago was to tackle ASB and make the town centres across the Bay safer.
He said: "Over the past two years we have invested £900,000 into Operation Town Centres which has done just that. The majority of that so far has been spent in Torquay on things like town centre officers and Public Spaces Protection Orders.
"Since we were elected we have been working on ASB. We have said before we are not going to have a scattergun approach.
"We have a lot of resources going into the town centres. We have only scratched the surface and there is an awful lot more to do.
"There is a commitment between the council and Crime Commissioner to do what we can.
"We have seen a huge resource from the police put into Torquay especially at the top end. That is hugely welcomed because we cannot do this on our own and it is not just a police problem.
"The only way these issues can be resolved in the long term is with the council, police, residents and the business community pulling together.
"I cannot honestly say that hand on heart that those issues have been resolved because they haven't.
"There is still a lot more work to do. The Union Square development will play a big part in the future because of the physical change it will bring to the street. "
Would a town centre manager under the auspices of a retail Business Improvement District help and could that be achieved with the current tourism company taking part of retail under its wing?
Cllr Thomas says: " The most successful towns around the UK benefit from a tourism or retail BID. It is something I would absolutely support."
Well, there's some food for thought and so, too are the findings from the latest English Riviera BID Company feedback survey from visitors which include satisfaction levels and the conclusion: "As was the case during 2021 and 2022 surveys, the suggestions for improvements once again continue to centre around parking and shopping facilities."
And that is from our holidaymakers. Fact not fiction or perception.....
