Economic Development Company

Alan Archer

Alan Archer, Chief Executive of The Select Group of Companies Ltd, started his first business aged 19 in his hometown of Brixham and his career to date has taken him from Torbay to Texas, Hawaii to Japan and back to Torbay again.

Alan’s early background in the Plumbing & HVAC industry remains at the heart of The Select Group’s business focus today. Alan has grown the business from a one-man consultancy assisting American companies looking to break into the newly formed EU in the late 80s into a company consisting of 4 divisions. Select Products: manufacturing and distributing products to traditional builder’s merchants; Select Facilities – warehousing and logistics for The Group & local businesses; Select Solutions – product development & consultancy and Trade Counter Direct.com – e-commerce website selling tools direct to all trades online.

The Select Group are currently involved in what is possibly Alan’s most exciting project to date. Select are in the process of developing a world class instrument that, for the first time ever, will be able to identify asbestos fibres in the air, in real time. Alan conceived and funded the concept and put together a European Consortium to develop the R&D and required new technology. With the aid of a €1.8 million EU contribution the consortium are now on their way to developing this life saving devise which could possibly save up to 500,000 lives in Europe alone between now and 2030 and will revolutionise the way we deal with the presence of asbestos.

Alan’s entrepreneurial passion and business foresight have not been restricted purely to his own business interests and over the past 15 years he has dedicated much time to the local business community. Alan was an Executive on The Devon International Trade Forum and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He was a Governor at South Devon College, where he trained as an apprentice himself in the 60s, during the college’s relocation to the Long Road campus and the early stages of the new University Building expansion plans. Alan is currently Chairman of the Torbay Business Forum and is an active member of Torbay Council’s ‘Strategic Partnership’ representing local businesses. He is a mentor for South Devon Business Mentors who actively guide local new businesses and is a supporter of Young Enterprise which encourages schools to develop young entrepreneurs. Alan has an active role supporting the proposed Torbay Link Road. This year Alan was nominated and won ‘Business Entrepreneur of the Year 2010’ in the Torbay Together Awards.

Cllr Alan Faulkner

Alan was first elected as a councillor in 1994 after moving to Torbay in (1987) to run a guest house following a successful career history in telecommunications, wine trading and the merchant navy.

Alan has been chairman of Torbay Council’s Licensing Committee; Planning Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, as well as being an executive on the Environmental Services Committee.

As vice-chairman of Swercots Ltd, Alan brings his expertise in consumer advice and trading standards to this south west market leader.

The position of board member for the TDA complements Alan’s other roles in the Torbay community – serving on the council’s Development Management Committee, the Scrutiny Health Committee and the Local Development Framework.

“My particular interest is in regeneration - developing employment opportunities in all sectors. We need to see the bigger picture of development with a focus on tourism, at the same time as encouraging investment from other parts of the UK and overseas.”

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Alex Rowe

Following his graduation from the University of St. Andrew’s in 1983, Alex returned to his West Country roots and joined his family’s business CLS Group with its processing plants in Torquay, Camborne and Falmouth.

Under his stewardship as Joint Managing Director, CLS developed into the leading regional supplier of textile rental products to the South West’s leisure and hospitality industries; and became one of the first companies in its sector to achieve both ISO 9002 and IiP registration.

Following the sale of the business in 2006, Alex joined the board of Jelf Group plc, a leading business intermediary in the fields of insurance, employee benefits and wealth management. He is a Non Executive Director with particular responsibilities for corporate governance and standards of conduct; remuneration; client care; and the development of business strategy.

Alex has lived and worked locally for almost 25 years; and takes a keen and active interest in local sport. He is a Life Vice President of Torquay Cricket Club; a former chairman and current director of Torquay Golf Club (Handicap 10); and was Chairman of the consortium that took a controlling interest in Torquay United FC in 2007 and which returned the Club to Football League status in 2009. He is also a Lord’s Taverner; a Freeman of the City of London; and a member of the Worshipful Company of Launderers.

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Chris Balch

Chris Balch was born and educated in Taunton. He studied at Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities and is a Chartered Town Planner and Chartered Surveyor. He worked in Scotland for 10 years, initially in local government in Glasgow before joining a newly established Planning, Economic and Development Consultancy, called Pieda.

As a Director of Pieda he established the firm's office in Reading and played a key role in the development of the business as a leading public sector consultancy. In 1997 the firm was acquired by DTZ, a leading International Real Estate Advisor. With DTZ, Chris led the establishment of consultancy teams in Dublin, Frankfurt, Paris and Prague, became Managing Director of its European Consultancy business and Managing Director of DTZ UK & Ireland with responsibility for over 2000 staff operating from offices throughout the British Isles.

Chris' expertise is focused on physical and economic regeneration of towns and cities. He has advised Government and private sector clients on strategies, plans and projects aimed at delivering transformational change. He played a key role in the establishment of the Leeds Development Corporation, and advised the Millennium Commission on the funding and delivery of major projects including the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff and the Odyssey Project, Belfast.

He has been Independent Chair of Basildon Renaissance Partnership, which is one of the local delivery bodies in the Thames Gateway and a Member of Council of the University of Essex. Recently appointed as Professor of Planning in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Plymouth, Chris teaches on the newly established MSc Planning programme.

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Cllr Chris Lewis

Cllr Lewis is Deputy Mayor of Torbay and Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration, Transport and Planning. He has led the implementation of the economic regeneration of Torbay as well as overseeing the many infrastructure projects undertaken since his election to the council. Chris is also a board member of Torbay Town Centre Company, chairman of the Torbay Strategic Economic Partnership and a board member of the South West Regional Development Agency.

He was formerly the managing director of his own business and holiday travel agency in central London and was a Fellow of the Institute of Travel and Tourism. In 2000 he moved to Devon and purchased a group of holiday cottages. He was elected to the Council in 2007.

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Gareth Brocklehurst

Gareth was educated locally, attending Torquay Boys Grammar School before completing a BSc Honours degree in Business Administration at Cardiff University. After graduating, Gareth decided to offer himself three months to secure an appropriate career opportunity in the South Devon before he followed many peers to London. He was provided an opportunity to work for Kelly Services, a leading international Recruitment Agency which provided an excellent grounding within the recruitment and employment industry. Following a short spell with a large, south west based independent agency, Gareth, along with a business partner, established his own Recruitment business based in Paignton and servicing employers throughout South Devon. Gareth is proud of his Torbay roots, and is determined to balance the continued success of G.A.P. Recruitment with contributing time and expertise to the improvement and development of the Bay.

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Cllr Neil Bent

Neil Bent was elected as a councillor in 2007 for the Wellswood ward, and is the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing and Housing. Having lived and been in business in Torbay for the last 45 years, Neil has gained extensive knowledge of the housing and regeneration challenges facing, not only Torbay, but the whole of the South West region. He is a steering group member for the Torbay Housing Partnership and the Exeter and Torbay Housing Market Assessment. From 1963 until 1986 he was a managing director of a holiday and leisure complex in Torquay, and in 1986 he set up and managed a building maintenance and support services business serving mainly local commercial premises.

Neil has been involved in a number of key projects that help to improve the economic prosperity of the Bay, including: New Growth Points bid for £2.5m to build communities, linking to the wider Community Plan and Mayoral Vision; Exemplar housing project in Torquay of 140 affordable homes; Extra Care housing project of 42 apartments in Torquay provided by Sanctuary Housing; Partnership working between Torbay Care Trust, Devon & Cornwall Police and Torbay Council in piloting a community empowerment project in Hele – one of the most deprived areas in Torbay; Partnership working between Torbay Council, HCA and Langley House Trust in building a hostel with accommodation, training and rehabilitation facilities for substance abusers and persistent offenders; Partnership working between Torbay Council, Torbay Care Trust and Shekinah Mission in the proposed Torbay Enterprise Centre to provide social enterprise opportunities for offenders with the aim of breaking the cycle of repeat offending; Torbay Council Housing Services achieving a 4 star rating; Torbay Council Supporting People service achieving the Service User Involvement Champion regional award for 2008 and national recognition for examples of good practice.

“My experience as a portfolio holder for both Housing and Adult Social Care has given me a clear understanding of the issues facing local authorities both now and in the future. To this end, a holistic view across the region on housing and regeneration is essential if we are to deliver affordable housing and economic growth, which in turn will resolve some of the social issues. Torbay Council has an integrated Health and Social Care service provided by the Torbay Care Trust and this, I feel, demonstrates recognition that true partnership working across all stakeholders is the only way forward.”

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Sheena Leaf

Sheena Leaf has lived and worked in Torbay for over 20 years.  During that time she has been employed in both the public and third sectors, as well as being a business owner in the retail, leisure and travel industries.  

Since 2003 she has been a director of BM21, a ‘not for profit’ company concerned with the economic and social regeneration of Brixham.  She has spent the past year at the School for Social Entrepreneurs, where she has been exploring the relationship between regional businesses and hard to reach communities.

Sheena currently works at the Community Council of Devon as Women’s Business Development Officer, delivering a Devon-wide women’s business programme.

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Simon Wilson

Simon Wilson qualified as a Solicitor in 1980 and was a Partner with a firm of solicitors in the South East for many years before relocating with his family to Devon in 1999 and becoming a Partner of a regional firm of solicitors before joining South Devon firm Hooper & Wollen Solicitors as a Partner in 2010.

Simon specialises in all aspects of property work and business sales and acquisitions, planning and environmental law, residential and commercial retail projects and agricultural matters.

Simon is a member of the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA) and is a Trustee of two local Charities and is currently the Vice Chair of the Torbay Strategic Partnership.

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Steve Parrock - Torbay Development Agency Chief Executive

Prior to joining Torbay Council as Head of Asset Management, Steve held a number of senior asset and project management positions in London, most notably at Barclays Capital.

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Vince Flower

Vince Flower is a Director of Shearings Group and Managing Director of Shearings Hotels Division. He is also Chief Operating Officer for the Shearings Group, with specific responsibility for Health & Safety and Sustainability. Shearings Group employs over 3000 people and it has a turnover of £220 million, providing holidays for a million customers each year. It is Europe’s largest coach holiday company, operating a fleet of 295 holiday coaches. Shearings Hotels operates 50 hotels in the UK, employs over 1700 staff and has an annual turnover in excess of £72 million.

Vince was born and raised in Torquay and attended Barton Primary & Junior Schools and Audley Park School (now Torquay Community College). After leaving school at 16 he took an Ordinary National Diploma in Business Studies at South Devon College. He then started fulltime work as a trainee manager at a local holiday business. His employers encouraged him to continue his education and he attended a Higher National Certificate in Business Studies Course at Exeter College; South Devon College did not offer this course at the time. In 1982 Vince completed a Diploma in Management Studies course at Plymouth Polytechnic. When the Ladbroke Group acquired the local holiday business where Vince worked this opened up a number of opportunities and he spent eight years managing various holiday villages and catering concessions, including those located at Kew Gardens and the Tower of London for the company.

Having spent the last ten years on the Board of Governors at South Devon College where he was the Chair up until July 2010, he is now the Chair of the Board of Governors at Torquay Community College. Vince previously served on the Board of the Torbay Development Agency and recently successfully applied for a position on the Board of the newly created Torbay Economic Development Company.

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