Council changes plans to keep hold of funding

A PLAN to revamp Paignton’s town centre has been put on hold, as Torbay Council juggles millions of pounds in Government money.

- GUY HENDERSON Local Democracy Reporter

With the clock ticking down to a deadline to get the work started, the local authority has made the ‘difficult but necessary’ decision to switch the funds earmarked for the long-awaited Station Square project to another Paignton project.

Otherwise, it says, the money could have been taken back by the Government because the time limit to spend it would have passed.

The Government's Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government monitors how the money from its Future High Streets (FHS) fund is spent. Nearly five years ago, Torbay received more than £13 million to spend on Station Square, the Victoria Centre, and a redevelopment at the former Crossways shopping centre. Now the council’s Conservative administration has admitted that ‘initial regeneration proposals do not always go to plan’ - but, it says, it is committed to delivering changes to the town centre.