The Rifles will also have a dedicated garden
Devon’s own army regiment will parade through Torbay in the summer to celebrate its links with the English Riviera.
First Battalion The Rifles received the freedom of the borough in 2008, which gives its soldiers the ceremonial right to march through the streets of the three towns bearing arms.
The Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton also has the freedom of the bay, and exercised its rights at a spectacular parade in 2018, complete with a flypast.
The crew of the nuclear submarine HMS Torbay also had freedom rights until the submarine was decommissioned in 2017. There were emotional scenes as the crew marched through Torquay to say farewell.
Cllr Mandy Darling (Lib Dem, Tormohun) told a full Torbay Council meeting that the Rifles had wanted to hold a parade to reaffirm their freedom of the borough for a number of years, and plans are in place to create a special garden to mark the link between the bay and its regiment.
Cllr Jackie Thomas (Con, Kings Ash) said work on a design for the garden is under way, and the project is likely to be completed to coincide with a proposed parade in July.
The Rifles Regiment was created in 2007 when the historic Devonshire and Dorset Regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry, The Light Infantry and the Royal Green Jackets.
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