Opportunity for a grand gesture to revitalise seafront

THERE isn’t one asset belonging to Torbay Council that isn’t under scrutiny right now. Those swingeing government-driven cuts in the council’s budget are a regular feature of this column as the council tries to find new ways of dealing with what could escalate from ‘headache’ to ‘crisis’ very quickly indeed.

Now the spotlight has turned on the Riviera International Conference Centre on Torquay seafront, the 30-year-old edifice that local people will always know as the Eric Centre.

When it was first built it was pledged that the centre wouldn’t cost the local ratepayer a penny, but that has not proven to be the case.

However, for the money we have spent, we have enjoyed great concerts there, we have accepted and given awards, we have applauded and heckled politicians, and watched the wheels of local politics turn during council meetings.

The centre has grown to become part of our lives, and it hasn’t given us bad value for our money over the years.

Now, however, we must accept the council can no longer continue to subsidise the centre and a business partner is being sought to take it on.

There is talk of a whole new conference centre with a hotel and shops. There may even be new homes cascading down towards the seafront. It is a bold vision, and one which will already have temperatures rising in some quarters, no doubt. Anything that touches the priceless seafront area must be handled with extreme care.

But if there is a business partner out there who is interested in moving the centre into a brighter future and saving the public purse millions of pounds in the process, then it must be an option worth pursuing.

Handle with care, of course, but let’s not slam the door on this proposal without first seeing exactly what could be done in area which could be ripe for redevelopment of a sensitive nature.