Could Living Coasts come back from the dead?

New plan for a ‘marine restoration centre'

A project to revive a derelict Torquay tourist attraction has taken a major step forward.

Earlier this year local company ARC Marine came forward with a plan to redevelop Living Coasts on Torquay harbourside.

Now Torbay Council has announced that it will approve a change in the lease on the land which will allow the development to move forward.

The decision signals the start of the revival of the site which housed a coastal zoo - complete with penguins, seabirds and seals - up until it closed in 2020 with all its animals being re-homed elsewhere. The Wild Planet Trust, which also operates Paignton Zoo, holds a long lease on the site which still has more than 100 years to run.

ARC Marine’s plan is for a ‘marine restoration centre’ which will be a hub for ocean conservation and habitat restoration projects.

When it first launched the proposal the company said it had secured major investment to redevelop the site into its operational headquarters and a research and development hub focused on ocean conservation and habitat restoration.

Projects in the ARC Marine portfolio include artificial reefs in Cornwall, Scotland and Torbay. 

The local project has created a scallop farm on a reef built from recycled material.

Stephen Kings, interim chief executive officer of the Wild Planet Trust said the company was aligned with the trust’s ‘core mission’ of living more sustainably with nature.

The council’s announcement explains that turning down the change to the lease would result in the site staying empty, as the Wild Planet Trust does not intend to move back in.

The original lease would not allow the trust to sub-let to ARC Marine, but the change now means it can do so. The sub-lease will be for 10 years, with a further option of 10 more.

“This will see a proportion of the building invested in and brought back into beneficial use for the foreseeable future,” according to the council’s published decision.

The agreement also allows the council to consider other plans for the future of the parts of the site not being used by ARC Marine.