Plans filed for huge Torquay town centre revamp

'This really is a once-in-a-generational opportunity'

A full-scale multi-million-pound revamp of Torquay’s tired town centre has moved a step closer.

Torbay Council’s development partner Willmott Dixon has now applied for planning permission to make a start on the transformation of the Union Square shopping centre.

It has lodged plans for the partial demolition of the existing shopping centre, knocking down nine shops fronting on to Union Street and Market Street.

Modern additions to the town’s historic pannier market will also come down, although the market itself will be kept. Also retained will be the multi-storey car park which serves the centre.

The redevelopment of the site will see town centre apartments mixed with shops, restaurants and offices along with a GP surgery. There will be work on the exterior of the pannier market, and a public square will be created.

The council and developers say it will be the biggest project of its kind in the resort since the demolition of the old Fleet Street for the Fleet Walk shopping centre in the 1980s.

Willmott Dixon is a family-owned construction company which has already been involved in building hotels in Torquay. Milligan is a development company with a global reach.

At the time the project was launched last year the council’s deputy leader Chris Lewis (Con, Preston) said the town was ‘desperate for change’.

And leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) added: “This really is a once-in-a-generational opportunity for Torbay, and we hope the community shares our enthusiasm and excitement.”

The project already has £11million of ‘Town Deal’ government funding allocated to it, and further public and private sector investment will be added to that. National pension funds are understood to be among the investors interested in it.

But the concept has not gone down well with everyone.

The first comment posted under the application when it was published on the council’s website said: “The overall concept is a good one. However I feel I have stepped back in time to the 1970s when modern architecture reached a low point. The proposed new buildings are laughably bad, ugly and far too large.”