Golf course with housing was once part of plan for Occombe's future

WITH Occombe Farm now closed following the demise of the Torbay Cast and Countryside Trust, thoughts are turning to what might happen to the 150 acres of prime farmland that surrounds it.

- by GUY HENDERSON Local Democracy Reporter [e-mail]

No decisions have yet been made over the future of the site as the trust moves into liquidation, but speculation has been rife across social media that the premium land on hills above Torbay would be catnip for would-be house builders.

That speculation has been completely groundless, but there is a precedent for the possibility of homes in the rolling green fields. And it was Torbay Council that set the precedent nearly half a century ago.

Before the trust developed it into a visitor attraction with a farm shop and cafe in the mid-Noughties, Occombe was operating as a traditional working farm. Torbay Council leased the land to the trust as a base for its farming operations. The trust kept cattle and sheep there, and there was much excitement when it decided to create its visitor-friendly site.

But from the 1960s on the council had entertained very different plans for the land.