£42 million Crossways regeneration approved

More than 90 homes expected

New homes on the site of Paignton’s former Crossways shopping centre will give a run-down part of the town centre a ‘shot in the arm’.

Members of the Torbay Council planning committee voted unanimously to give the go-ahead to the plan for 91 ‘supported living’ homes for local people, with a day centre and central garden area for residents.

The project will cost around £42million and will create 53 full-time jobs.

Cllr Adam Billings (Con, Churston with Galmpton) said the scheme was ‘excellent’ and added: “There is a very clear need to provide this type of facility.

“It is all about helping people to live independently.”

Torbay Council and development partner Willmott Dixon Construction are behind the application for buildings up to six storeys high.

The 1960s shopping centre was demolished in 2024, and a short-term car park has been operating on the site since.

The plan proposes two main blocks connected by a single-storey link. There were 18 objections when the plan was published on the council’s website on grounds including overdevelopment, anti-social behaviour, parking and the impact of taking a shopping centre out of the local economy.

But planning officers said that because the site had been vacant or under-used for many years, the plan would not mean a loss of active businesses.

The meeting heard that the original plans featured a pedestrian walkway through the site from Hyde Road to Torquay Road, but police had advised against it. There will now be no way through for the public.

Cllr Alan Tyerman (Con, Churston with Galmpton) said the new development would help meet Torbay’s need for better support for many older residents.

The Office for National Statistics predicts that by 2042 a third of the population of Torbay will be over state retirement age and the number of people with complex learning and physical disabilities will also increase significantly.

Cllr Tyerman said Torbay could not currently meet the demands for supported living, and too many people were finding themselves in care homes as a result.

“Care homes provide a valuable service, but they don’t provide the independence that many of our residents desire and would like to see us provide,” he added.

“That level of independence is vital.”

The meeting also heard that having people moving into the new homes would help to release larger properties onto the local market.