If today’s (Tuesday 4th March 20025) announcement of £20m regeneration funding for Torquay sounded familiar, it’s because the latest Labour Government announcement was nothing new, leaving residents with a Groundhog Day feeling.
Whilst local campaigners are breathing a sigh of relief at the funding pot not being scrapped or heavily delayed by the new Labour Government, in the way Torbay Hospital’s rebuild has been pushed back nearly a decade since they came to power, it is not a new funding stream for our town. The £20m over 10 years was originally announced by the then Conservative Government as part of its Long Term Plan for Towns on 1 October 2023.
Despite some attempts to claim the funding is new, the Government’s own press release confirms its original origin when it states: “The Plan for Neighbourhoods delivers on the commitments made to these deprived communities from the previous administration’s Long-Term Plan for Towns, which it was confirmed at the 2024 Autumn Budget would be retained and reformed.”
Torquay was the only town in the South West region to be allocated this funding in both the Long Term Plan for Towns and now in the Plan for Neighbourhoods.
Former Torbay MP Kevin Foster who helped secure the original funding announcement said:
“Whilst it’s a relief this funding has not been scrapped by the new Labour Government, it is wrong to portray this as new or something only secured today.”
“I look forward to seeing the difference the funding will make, as I know the Conservative Leadership of Torbay Council had already been working hard with the community to agree how best to use it for the benefit of all Torquay residents.”
You can read Kevin's statement when the funding was first announced in 2023 by clicking here.
