Torbay Council steps up social housing drive with 25 new Paignton homes
The former St Boniface Church in Foxhole is due to be demolished and replaced with 25 social-rented apartments for people with a local connection
A former church in Paignton is set to be demolished and replaced with 25 social-rented homes for local households.
Torbay Council is due to begin work at St Boniface Church, north of Belfield Road in Foxhole, in autumn 2026.
The authority has partnered with Torbay-based contractor Boniface Community Homes Ltd and Armada Property (UK) Ltd to redevelop the site.
Plans include 25 apartments, all intended for households with a local connection.
Residents will have access to communal gardens, parking and mobility scooter storage, while some properties will be wheelchair adaptable.
The apartments will also benefit from communal solar panels and efficient heating.
St Boniface Church closed in 2024 after the Diocese of Plymouth said its condition had deteriorated and the local congregation had declined. Services were subsequently moved to other churches.
The site was never consecrated, meaning no burials took place there.
Torbay Council said redeveloping the site will bring it back into use for housing.
Councillor Alan Tyerman, cabinet member for housing and finance, said the project would help provide homes for local people while making use of a derelict site.
“This Council has made a commitment to develop a new generation of council housing, and this is our next investment to do just that,” he said.
“We will provide the homes our residents really need, and will do everything we can to ensure these are delivered on brownfield sites, to help protect our precious greenfield spaces.”
The scheme forms part of Torbay Council's wider programme to increase the number of council-owned social-rented homes in the area.
Its first 36 new homes under the programme were delivered between October and December 2025, including 14 flats at Brampton House in Torquay as part of the Hotels to Homes scheme.
A further 23 social-rented homes at the former St Kilda's care home in Brixham are expected to be handed over in October 2026.
Work is also due to begin at the former Crossways Shopping Centre in Paignton after the October half-term.
That project is planned to provide 91 social-rented homes as extra-care housing.
Two further Hotels to Homes schemes in Torquay have also been approved, while a construction tender is due to be issued in autumn 2026 for the redevelopment of the former Seabury Hotel site in Manor Road.
All these projects are intended to provide social-rented housing for households with a local connection.
Funding for the St Boniface scheme will come from a Homes England grant alongside council borrowing.
Planning permission was granted earlier this year, with new homes expected to be completed and occupied in late 2028.
They will be advertised through the council's housing allocation system.