Nick Bye: Christie statue amongst many achievements for the Bay

Dame Agatha Christie would be pleased indeed to survey the crowds enjoying Elizabeth Hadley's marvellous statue, now pride of place at Torquay's greatly improved Strand & harbour side.

Indeed I hope she would be delighted to see all that is underway in terms of regeneration in her beloved Torquay & neighbouring towns of Paignton & Brixham. 

There was quite a crowd enjoying the scene the other morning & Yours Truly had to wait a while to take his turn to be snapped on the famous bench. 

I very much hope the Strand regeneration project will be the much needed catalyst for private sector investment around the harbour side & so far it's looking quite promising with numerous new businesses opening up.

I am also looking forward to the unveiling of the new displays depicting the history of our D Day embarkation ramps. This has been a great community project from the Torwood Coastal Volunteers with support from the Tormohun & Wellswood Councillors' ward funds.

As we are now "mid term", half way between the last Torbay Council elections & the next time Torbay residents decide on their local leaders, perhaps it's a good time to take stock & note what has been achieved. This is in no way a party political piece as much progress depends upon what came before & any council's achievements are a team effort, but it's certainly worth celebrating:

Sound finances, millions of borrowing paid off & balanced budgets which have enabled:

Much lower Council Tax bills compared with neighbouring areas. Band "C" households in Torquay & Paignton will pay £2,080 for 2025/26; in Newton Abbot the charge is £2,299 & in Totnes £2,324, over £240 more to find.

Repairs are now underway at Oldway; the Pavilion is now in the Council's possession again & a survey is underway; substantial support is being awarded to complete the restoration of the Paignton Picture House Cinema.

Our latest new hotel will open later in the Summer at Livermead, our tenth in recent times. Other seaside places would be pleased to have just one.

Our partnership with Willmott Dixon & Milligan has resulted in exciting plans for Union Square & Debenhams, Torquay whilst the Council continues to acquire  adjacent properties to provide for more ambitious & viable projects. The demolition of Crossways & the creation of a new car park, whilst only a temporary measure, seems to me to have brightened up Paignton town centre.

A new housing scheme for older people is underway at St Kilda's Brixham; we have also embarked on two "hotels to homes" schemes as well as supporting the YMCA projects for vulnerable youngsters. I am especially pleased we have now completed a near £1million investment at the Acorn Youth Centre, Barton & have allocated £500,000 in our budget for the repair & improvement of children's play parks, after years of neglect.

This all fits with our ambition to be a UNICEF recognised Child Friendly place, a project initiated by the previous administration which we are all delighted to support.

In the same vein we are rolling out more 20 mph speed limits around schools believing safety for children & young people is a top priority.

We have negotiated a new 5 year contract to continue with our integrated model of delivery of adult social care. Torbay is one of just two places in the UK to have this "joined up" approach which brings so many benefits. We really are a model of good practice although all rather taken for granted locally.

Everyone is looking forward to the Airshow & fingers crossed for fine weather. Last year's was a great success & delivered for a fraction of the cost compared with before.

We have improved local 'bus services thanks to new contracts & subsidies. We should have new electric 'buses on some of our main routes later in the year.

We are making a good start on refreshing road markings across the Bay after years when we simply didn't have any functioning equipment.

We have reinstated PSPOs in our town centres & elsewhere to reduce anti social behaviour.

We have agreed new governance arrangements/local protocols to improve behaviour in the Town Hall as well & although early days it does seem to be making a difference.

Of course there are still areas for improvement & big battles to be won on housing delivery & the quality of life in our most deprived neighbourhoods.

An amazing team of professionals works tirelessly to ensure children & families are safe, with a roof over their heads, but there is still a shocking gap in life expectancy between our most & least deprived residents, for example.

Indeed the gap between the "haves" & "have nots" is probably just as great now as it was when Agatha Miller was growing up in Torquay all those years ago.