Economic Regeneration Strategy

Torbay’s regeneration strategy sets out our vision: driving forward Torbay’s economic prosperity. The strategy has been prepared and developed by Torbay Council’s regeneration arm, Torbay Development Agency, in consultation with local businesses, residents and partners.

Our strategy sets out a clear way forward by building on the Bay’s strengths to improve economic prosperity, give us prosperous communities with a higher quality of life and improved access to jobs.

Torbay has an outstanding environment, including 22 miles of coastline. The three major towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham are all located on the coast and the local economy has historically focused on tourism, fishing and some manufacturing activities, supported by retail and public sector activities. Torbay has a population of around 131,000 but its summertime resident population swells to well over 200,000 for the peak summer weeks.

Among the issues that Torbay faces are low wage rates, seasonality of employment, pockets of acute deprivation, some skills gaps and relatively high levels of economic inactivity.

To address the issues facing our economy the strategy sets out a path for the sustainable development of Torbay's economy by 2016 which will:

The strategy identifies six themes to drive forward activities and programmes, which are:

The strategy and its evidence base will be available for download shortly.