Dear All,
After a warm and sunny day here in the bay it is time for my latest update.
As the House of Commons is in recess my week has been spent at home here in the bay.
Recess provides a useful chance to catch up with groups, residents and organisations I may struggle to meet with at times when I can only offer a Friday or Saturday diary slot. This was especially the case for a two-part meeting on Tuesday which started in my East St Office and ended at Oldway Mansion, more on this one below.
On Monday a major funding bid to expand Torbay’s Mental Health Services was on the agenda as I traveled to Exeter for a meeting with local NHS leaders to discuss plans for significant investment in our bay, more on this below.
A further advantage of recess is the chance to get out on the doorsteps and talk to residents about what matters to them. On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I joined Cllrs Anne Brookes and Ray Hill who, together with Hazel, were out surveying local residents’ views in St Marychurch. A range of issues were brought up including bins, potholes, town centre regeneration and brexit.
Wednesday brought a trip to the Cockington Fayre and it was great to see so many local groups there. There was plenty of fun on offer as well, with the Lions' famous plate smashing stall available to help relieve any frustrations. My collection of cuddly toys was topped up at several teddy tombola stands and no fayre would be complete without picking up a homemade treat from the WI stall. I also met, as pictured above, with the team from Children’s Hospices South West who do so much to ensure some very special children’s lives are well lived.
Afterwards I returned to my East St Office for a meeting with the Torquay United Supporters Trust to discuss the latest news on Plainmoor and a potential new stadium, which is covered in more detail below.
Yesterday started with a meeting to discuss the prospects for a Housing First Pilot here in the bay with representatives of Shekinah, national housing charity Crisis and Torbay Council. Three large urban areas are already piloting this model which aims to get people off the streets more quickly and has greater success in preventing them returning. I recently picked this up with the Secretary of State in parliament and a meeting with the Minister directly responsible has been offered, hence planning how to push the bid for Torbay.
Today I finished the week with three visits. The first to the Shekinah Grow Community Day at their base in Preston. The second to the Devon Arms in Torquay to mark the completion of their new local history displays. Then finally over to St Martin’s, Barton for the annual Vicar’s BBQ.
I will be taking Mrs Foster away on holiday next week, so my team will be taking over the update on Friday 10th August. I will be back in a fortnight’s time.
This week’s update is below and includes:
Beach Huts, Bins, TUFC Stadium, New Mental Health Facility Funding Bid, Police Appeal After Aggravated Burglary, Union St Toilet Plan, Palace Hotel, Cameras On South Devon Highway, Breastfeeding, Local Heroes Nominations, and finally…..Wish You Were Here?
Beach Huts,
A letter from Torbay Council requiring those who rent their Beach Huts to purchase them for hundreds of pounds or lose their pitch has caused significant anger.
The letters, some asking for up to £500 for the hut concerned, arrived out of the blue after no meaningful consultation was undertaken by Torbay Council prior to making this decision. Beach Hut Users, most Councillors and I only found out about this when residents got in touch to complain about the demand being sent. There were also queries about why some had been asked to pay much more for older huts, than other users were being invoiced for much newer ones.
Most Beach Hut users own their hut and just rent a site for it from Torbay Council, yet for many the hut rental system works well and provides an affordable way to enjoy this facility. From speaking with the Leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Dave Thomas, his understanding is the service makes a small profit so was at a loss to explain the sudden move and confirmed it is not one he or Councillors more widely had agreed to. You can read more on Devon Live by clicking
here.
Following the queries raised a senior Council officer has now written to all Councillors indicating a partial u-turn on the demand users must buy their hut.
Tomorrow (Saturday 4
th August) at 4pm I will be meeting Beach Hut users concerned about these changes at Splashdown Car Park at Goodrington South. If you have concerns about this issue and wish to attend feel free to do so, but ideally do let me know you are coming by emailing me at kevin@kevinjfoster.com
Bins,
The saga of problems with Torbay Council’s bin and recycling collection services is continuing with residents and businesses still contacting me about the problems they are having.
Tor2’s frontline staff are doing their best and working hard in the hot weather conditions, yet it is clear the service needs major change to provide what residents have a right to expect. I know Councillors on a cross-party basis are working hard to resolve this, as it appears the Mayor’s Executive and senior management has not been able to.
Do let me know if you have any further problems and my team will raise them with the council, although we are unable to directly instruct those providing council services to collect particular streets.
TUFC Stadium,
In last week’s update I covered the announcement of Torquay United’s hope to move to a new stadium built on Nightingale Park.
Whilst I am usually keen to encourage investment in our bay the “plans” unveiled last week left a lot to be desired, with few details and poorly constructed images being used. Not what I would expect from a project claiming it could invest £40m. My concerns were reported in Wednesday’s Herald Express (You can read the article by clicking
here) and later in the day I received an email from TUFC’s Chairman Clarke Osborne, inviting me to meet with him about the recent announcement.
I have met Mr Osborne once before to discuss his intentions for the club and in his e-mail he indicates he wants to explain the recent proposals. After our last meeting (in September) I was sceptical a sound, fully costed and financially balanced, business plan for a new stadium can be put together yet would be prepared to consider what the club might bring forward. This remains the case, plus the added issue of whether the site suggested, a former landfill rubbish tip, could even (physically) be built on in the way suggested.
I have agreed to take up Mr Osborne’s offer of a meeting and will report back in a future update on the outcome.
New Mental Health Facility Funding Bid,
As mentioned above on Monday I headed over to Wonford House in Exeter to meet with the Chair and Chief Executive of the Devon Partnership NHS Trust.
For too many years patients from Torbay have ended up being required to go out of area, including being sent to places as far as West Yorkshire, for key mental health treatments and services. This is a situation which would never have been acceptable for physical ailments and since being elected I have been clear this situation must be addressed by providing services within Devon.
The Wonford House site will soon be home to a brand new Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, plus a Mother and Baby Unit which has just opened its doors. These facilities are urgently needed and will ensure those requiring the highest level of mental health care get the services they need locally. Yet the focus of our discussions was a multi-million-pound bid to create new Mental Health bed spaces.
The bid if successful could see up to 27 mental health bed spaces created at Torbay Hospital, helping keep more people local to their families whilst receiving the treatment they need and improving on the current facilities there. The funding being looked for is in the region of £12m.
I pledged to do what I could to support this bid, which will be a key issue for me to raise when parliament returns next month
Police Appeal After Aggravated Burglary,
Torquay Police have arrested three people following an aggravated burglary in Torquay.
Officers were called to an address in Upton Hill at around 8pm on Tuesday 31 July following a disturbance in the area. It was reported that four people had broken into the property and made threats to harm the occupant who is a man in his 20s. The victim fled the scene and contacted the police, who attended and soon made three arrests, with reports of one officer showing immense courage as they tackled an armed suspect. A fourth person is still being sought in connection to this incident. You can read more on Devon Live by clicking
here.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Torquay Police on 101@dc.police.uk quoting crime reference CR/069414/18.
Union St Toilet Plan,
Plans to install five new public toilets at the junction of Union St and Market St have been submitted for planning permission.
The five unisex toilets would be accessed directly from the street with one including pull down baby changing facilities and a RADAR key facility. The units will incorporate combined hand washing / drying facilities and 'no' touch flushing systems.
You can see and comment on the plans for yourself on the Council’s website by clicking
here.
Palace Hotel,
Given the fond memories many update readers will have of time spent there, I expect there will be some sadness at hearing news the Palace Hotel, Torquay is likely to be demolished.
The Hotel closed last year and was bought by the Fragrance Group, who have recently unveiled plans for major new hotels to be built on two other sites they own in the bay. Plans for their third major project, a new 250-bedroom five star Palace Hotel, are expected to be unveiled soon, yet it appears this will be based on a completely new build. You can read more on Devon Live by clicking
here.
If undertaken the development could be the largest and most expensive Hotel project in our bay for decades, but I will wait till I see more details before commenting further. It will though be sad to see the place I was selected in, where Hazel & I held our wedding reception and my Mother enjoyed staying in prior to her death in 2014, disappear.
Cameras On South Devon Highway,
Since it was built many residents and motorists have queried the 50 MPH speed limit on the South Devon Highway.
Only three years ago many road journeys to\from the bay involved allowing up to an hour for crawling through traffic jams in Kingskerswell. It is therefore quite a change to report on a recent discussion by Devon County Councillors (The road is virtually all in the County Council’s area) about the effect of vehicles travelling too fast along the A380, especially on the South Bound approach to the Penn Inn Roundabout.
The Councillors voted unanimously to support installing average speed cameras on the road, although I am advised the County's Cabinet will need to approve the funding to do so. You can read the full story on Devon Live by clicking
here.
Breastfeeding,
It’s National Breastfeeding Week and efforts are being made to highlight the legal position in relation to this.
The law is clear in that it is not only lawful to breastfeed openly in public, but illegal to discriminate against a woman doing so. If a woman is asked to leave a location, whether that may be at work or in public, it is within her right to challenge this request. Thankfully there are many places in our bay which actively seek to make women feel very welcome when breastfeeding, including several cafes, churches and my own office in Torre.
The National Breastfeeding Helpline is available 365 days a year from 9.30am to 9.30 pm (call 0300 100 0212). The Start4Life website also offers useful information on breastfeeding which you can find
here.
No-one should have a problem with a Mother caring for her child openly in our bay, the real problem is with those who insist on looking at her whilst she does so.
Local Heroes Nominations,
The Breeze have launched their annual ‘Local Heroes’ initiative, which gives residents the chance to nominate someone they think deserves to be recognised in the community.
There are ten categories and the finalists of each category will be invited to attend an exclusive awards ceremony and receive some special recognition. There are many categories that you might want to nominate someone for.
To view the different categories and make a nomination just click
here. The deadline for nominations is Sunday (5
th August).
and finally…..Wish You Were Here?
Ending on a lighter note as the holiday season arrives many of our visitors will be thinking of sending home a message to let their loved ones know they are having a good time.
In 2018 most will be busy posting their snaps to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with comments instantly made by their friends as they compare the fun everyone is having. Yet until very recently the only way to let your family know you wished they were here was to send a postcard.
Over the last 20 years postcard use has declined by 60%, with many younger visitors to the bay having never enjoyed the fun of picking which one to send back. Yet Torquay Museum’s latest exhibition “Wish You Were Here” takes visitors back to the day’s when the postcard was king.
It is running until Friday 31st August and with kids and teens free entry (Up to 4 under 19’s per paying Adult). A range of cards are on display, including some of the saucier offerings which caused controversy decades ago.
That is all for this week and enjoy your weekend.
Best Wishes,
Kevin
