11 Aug Have your say on how £20million could improve Torquay

Torquay communities have a fantastic opportunity to help spend a whopping £20 million over the next decade.

As part of the Government’s Plan for Neighbourhoods programme, ideas are being sought on ways to improve Torquay over the next ten years. Submissions are welcome from organisations, businesses, or individuals.

The seaside town is the only one in the South West to be selected for this funding, so get your thinking caps on and share your ideas, they can be as wild and far-reaching as you like, as long as they are achievable and as long as they achieve the goal of improving Torquay and, by default, its communities.

But be quick, you only have until August 24^th to get your submission in when initially it will be considered by the aptly named Torquay Leadership Board – a mix of individuals, community leaders, politicians and representatives of the VCSE (voluntary, community and social enterprise) sector – all of whom have equal standing when it comes to the decision making.

They will announce those they are pursuing by September 10th, before working them up into realistic proposals to be rubber-stamped by the Government in November.

This is not pie-in-the-sky stuff; it is a ten-year project with genuine backing (£20 million, remember, which in turn can be used to attract further investment and funding), and it needs to be turned around quickly. Initially, the leadership board are looking for projects that can be worked on over the next four years.

The scope is as wide and exciting as you want to make it with the guidance saying the money can be spent on physically improving neighbourhoods, improving Torquay town centre, on housing, arts, culture and heritage, on crime and safety, transport, on education and opportunity, work and skills, on health, wellbeing and sport and on being a stronger community.

If only it were £200 million, not £20 million!

Three-quarters of the funds must be spent on building facilities, and a quarter on services or activities. To make the biggest difference, we all need to imagine how we want Torquay to look and feel in 2035. In other words, look forward, not back, to the heady days of yore. This is not an occasion to wallow in nostalgia, and that is why you are invited to be as imaginative as you are able.

Torquay has been singled out as the only place in the South West to be offered this opportunity, and anyone who knows the town well will understand the challenges it faces and why it needs this boost.

The government has outlined a series of facts and figures to show how areas of the town are blighted by deprivation, but we will not dwell on those statistics here. Suffice it to say that strong communities, when they work together, can overcome all adversity, as they have proven time and time again.

Remember COVID? Torquay, indeed, the whole of Torbay, rose to that challenge and proved that when the chips are down, the communities come together and look out for each other.

Put simply, no one knows the community’s priorities better than those who live and work there.

The plan needs to bring people together so we can take pride in our area and feel safe on our streets. It will ensure that children have the best start in life and that adults can live the life they want by supporting them to enter the workplace, supporting workers to progress, and helping businesses grow. The plan aims to give Torquay residents a greater say in shaping their town’s future, both now and in the years to come.

There have been many consultations over the last decade or so, and not all have led to the conclusions that may have been hoped for, but this time around, the money is on the table, the people are in place and all it needs now is a bit of imagination and the input on behalf of communities and the town can be steered onto a journey of transformation.

You can have your say via a short survey on the Torbay Communities website, where you can also submit your proposal that may well turn a dream into a reality.

What are you waiting for?

PS: If you would like to help spread the word, a poster is available to print off or upload online. You can also let us know if you’d like any paper copies – call us on 01803 212638 or email us at [email protected] ASAP. If you’re sharing online, please remember the link: https://bit.ly/futureplantorquay