Neglected!

Iniquitous spending gap shows just £12 per person spent on redeveloping Paignton

STARK figures show that Paignton is the pauper of the bay’s towns. In the last nine years , Torbay Council has spent just £12 on regenerating Paignton for every person in the town.

The iniquitous spending gap shows spending in Torquay has been £161 per head and in Brixham a whopping £1,201 per head.

And the situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon with the cash-strapped council pulling the plug on the £1 million Paignton town centre improvement scheme which was to beautify the run-down Station Square area of the town, a decision but former mayor Nick Bye called “a disgrace”.

Liberal Democats in the council are challenging that decision with councillor Ian Doggett saying: “Over many years Paignton has been the poor relation of our three towns.

“There have been vast investments in Torquay and Brixham but Paignton always seems to miss out.”

FIGURES which prove Paignton is Torbay’s ‘forgotten’ town will be presented to an influential council committee next week.

In the last nine years Torbay Council has spent just £12 on regenerating Paignton for every person in the town. In Torquay the spending has been £161 per head and in Brixham a whopping £1,201 per head.

The figures come as Liberal Democrat councillors ‘call in’ a decision by Conservative Mayor Gordon Oliver to pull the plug on a £1 million Paignton town centre improvement scheme. The proposal to improve the run-down Station Square area of the town was passed by the council earlier this year. But the scheme has become the first high-profile victim of the current council cash squeeze, with members told it would not be prudent to continue in the face of savage cash cuts.

Members of the mayor’s executive said the plug had been pulled “with a heavy heart” but former mayor Nick Bye called the decision was “a disgrace”.

Now the Liberal Democrats are calling in the decision at a special meeting of the council’s watchdog overview and scrutiny committee next week.

Lib Dem deputy leader Christine Carter said: “It is odd that our Conservative council is happy to invest millions of pounds elsewhere in the country but is stopping investment in our own town.”

Her fellow Paignton Lib Dem councillor and seconder of the motion, Ian Doggett, said:“Over many years Paignton has been the poor relation of our three towns. There have been vast investments in Torquay and Brixham but Paignton always seems to miss out.”

The per-head spending figures, first obtained in 2016, show that Torquay’s waterfront projects worth £10.5m have included the town dock, Mallock memorial, Princess Promenade, Haldon and Princess Piers and the Inner Harbour.

In Brixham £20m has been spent on harbour regeneration and repairs, and on the breakwater.

Paignton’s only waterfront spending has been £600,000 on the geo-playpark.

Picture: ANDY STYLES The Station Square area of Paignton which was earmarkedfor regeneration