Purpose

The successful bids
for Future High Streets Funding, Town Deal, Levelling Up
Partnership, Levelling Up Round 3 (LUF3), and the recent direct
award through the Plans for Neighbourhoods, in addition to the
development sites acquired by the Council since 2019, has created
the need to for a place vision that links the funding and assets
(development sites) together. This will create a clear vision of
how development sites work together to regenerate Torbay as
whole.
 
A Torquay Town Centre
Vision has already been approved by the Cabinet.  The Cabinet is due to approve documents for
Paignton and Brixham and an overarching Vision for Torbay over the
next few months.

Decision

1.  that the Torbay Regeneration Vision:
Paignton (also known as Paignton Town Centre Place Vision) be
approved, in order to, steer both the
delivery of current regeneration sites and the development of
future proposals for the sites and areas of public realm identified
by the vision as suggested priorities; and
 

2.  that the document be updated as and
when necessary by presenting the revised
document and evidence base to Cabinet.

Reasons for the decision

To respond to the
recommendation of the Overview and Scrutiny Board and to provide a
guiding document to:
 
·        
increase investment in our three towns to enable them to develop
their own distinct identities and role;
·        
attract, retain, and grow our economic specialisms so we have
growth which builds on our reputation; and
·        
create a future pipeline of investment priorities derived from the
evidence used to produce the Visions and from our emerging Economic
Plan.

Alternative options considered

Option 1 – Do
Nothing – This would have resulted in handing back the One
Public Estate (OPE) 8 funding allocated for the purpose of
producing a strategy of for Transforming Torbay.
 
Option 2 – Take
a statutory Masterplanning approach by
updating the current adopted Masterplans for Paignton and Torquay
Town Centres.  This would have taken a
longer period of time and not covered
the wider Torbay area and been subject to a length statutory
consultation period.  With the current
Government requiring that all Local Plans were to be updated by the
end of the current parliament the visions along with the new Local
Plan can inform the need to update or supersede the current town
centre Masterplans.
 
Option 3 – The
preferred option - produce vision documents for; Torbay, Brixham
Port and Town Centre, Paignton Town Centre and Harbour and Torquay
Town Centre and Harbour