Western Morning News (Saturday)
Holiday homes agreed
PLANNING permission has been granted for five new holiday homes beside Torquay’s most central beach despite opposition.
Beacon Cove, tucked away in the shadow of the former Living Coasts penguin zoo, was once Agatha Christie’s favourite bathing spot and remained popular until a walled walkway was built in the 1980s. After that it slipped into misuse and became an out-of-hours party area.
In the last few years campaigners have used people power to reclaim the beach, with residents Graham Stephenson and Jim Cairns raising money to gate it off at night and make it a safe space again.
Hertfordshire-based Hemel Hempstead Property Company developers have now been given the go-ahead for a modern block of huts on privatelyowned land half way up the cliff. They say they would be used as holiday homes only and any single user would only be able to stay for a maximum of 12 weeks a year.
The plans have prompted opposition on social media, and Mr Stephenson, the man behind the campaign to reclaim the beach, has written a letter to the leaders of Torbay Council saying: “Local people contributed a lot of money so that we could work hard with the council to bring Beacon Cove back to life in a way that attracts people looking for an easy access seaside experience.”
He added: “We have made Beacon Cove special again for locals, visitors and international tourists, visiting the Agatha Christie Mile, of which Beacon Cove is a part. Local people have spent their money to safeguard this local asset but the council has chosen not to recognise the wishes of local people and those organisations that use Beacon Cove for open air exercise and safeguarding our seagrass meadows.”
He says the hillside is home to birds, badgers and hedgehogs and believes the stark “modernistic construction would impose itself on this peaceful and wild and beautiful coastal cove enjoyed so much by local people”.
Members of the public had paid for the CCTV and a new gate to protect the cove and they have put up signs showing its history, with information panels highlighting the importance of the seagrass and GeoPark, he added.
Modified versions of the beach huts planning application have previously been approved by Torbay Council in 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2016 – but building work was never started and permission has lapsed each time.
Julie Brandon, from the Torquay Neighbourhood Forum, urged the council to reject the plans, claiming: “Five beach huts will provide very little economic benefit.”