‘Flogging off’ Torbay assets could raise significant cash

Putting some of Torbay’s assets up for sale will help safeguard the rest for the future, councillors have been told.

The council is selling off five public toilets, a graffiti-covered beach cafe, a derelict schoolroom and a disused former icehouse among other items for sale or auction.

Critics say the town hall is ‘flogging off’ some of its possessions rather than revitalising them.

Fifteen assets will go up for sale by auction or tender after the cabinet voted unanimously to go ahead with the sell-off.

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In a report to the meeting officers said the assets were surplus to requirements, and keeping them in the council’s portfolio would lead to increased repair and maintenance costs.

Cllr Swithin Long (Lib Dem, Barton with Watcombe) asked why play areas at Salisbury Avenue and Pendennis Road in Torquay were being sold while a new playing pitch strategy was being developed. He called for decisions on those areas to be deferred.

Cllr George Darling (Lib Dem, St Marychurch) said many of the assets had been neglected. “Instead of trying to revitalise them, they are just being flogged off,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t join up.”

But Cllr Chris Lewis (Con, Preston) said many of the assets had been deteriorating for many years. The receipts from some of them could be small, he added, but together they could add up to a significant amount.

On Salisbury Avenue, he said: “The community could come forward to take it on. If we sit back and do nothing, and kick it into the long grass again, we’ll never get anywhere.

“Residents will be delighted that we are getting money that can go towards other assets that need improving.”

The list is:

• Torwood Gardens Shelter – for auction
• Torwood Gardens Old Block former toilets – for auction
• Watcombe Beach redundant toilets – auction for joint freehold with Watcombe Beach redundant cafe
• Land at Borough Road, Paignton – for auction
• Palace Avenue public toilets, Paignton – for auction
• Land at Pendennis Road, Torquay – for auction
• Old Barn, Torre Marine, Torquay – for informal tender
• Polsham Centre, Paignton – for informal tender/auction
• Mount Pleasant former Cadet site, Brixham – for informal tender/auction
• Disused former icehouse, Wellswood, Torquay – for informal tender/auction
• Broadsands redundant toilets – for informal tender/auction
• Land (play area) at Salisbury Avenue, Torquay – for sale by private treaty
• Land adjacent to 14 Whitstone Road, Paignton – for informal tender
• Redundant toilets at Reddenhill Road, Torquay – for sale by private treaty/auction.