Housing added to list of residents' priorities to spend £20m in Torquay

PROVIDING homes for local families in need will be one of the priorities when it comes to spending £20 million in government cash in Torquay.

- by GUY HENDERSON

Members of the influential Torquay Place Leadership Board pledged “power to the people” when it met in June to discuss what to do with the Plan For Neighbourhoods (PFN) cash.

Now it has agreed to make affordable housing one of its key aims after hearing the resort’s MP describe it as a “wicked issue”.

The board, which met at Torquay Town Hall this week, has received ideas for more than 50 projects from the community after asking residents for a ‘wish list’ of how they would like to see the money spent.

The board’s job is to create a 10-year strategy for spending the money, with the emphasis on schemes to make life better, healthier and happier for residents.

Torquay is the only town in the South West to qualify for the cash, due largely to deprivation, crime rates, economic inactivity and low-income jobs.