6 years ago a concept was drawn up for our town to address the problems that had been highlighted by local residents and businesses.

Falling visitor numbers to the town centre, increasing shop closures, delapidated infrastructure and a general ‘down at heel’ feeling.

Residents and businesses expressed a desire to see local investment and urgent action to change the downward spiral that the town was in danger of.

A plan was drawn up and presented to government as part of their ‘Future High Street’ programme to address the concerns of residents by making the town centre more attractive to residents and visitors, more accessible through wider pavements and planting trees and flower beds, increasing access for pedestrians and cyclists and enhancing the locations and facilities needed to attract more town centre users.

This resulted in a grant from the government of £9.3million towards the delivery of the changes needed.

Since then, following numerous local consultations, the basic needs as originally outlined have not changed but the solutions to deliver the required changes have been the subject of constant attack and misinformation leading to a paralysis in decision making, delays in delivery and now, a loss of key infrastructure in the town. All of the objections have been based on no changes being acceptable, none have come forward with deliverable solutions that meet the fundamental requirements to deliver the changes needed make Newton Abbot the leading town within Teignbridge.

We are now faced with the latest climbdown that could relegate our town to the second division of dormitory towns within Devon, with anyone who wants to enjoy the full range of main stream attractions expected to travel to either Plymouth or Exeter.

Let me explain why this is the case.

The need to attract residents and visitors to the town to increase footfall to support our  local businesses and revitalise our market hall depended on facilities that work for 364 days a year as our local businesses do.

The original plan was to have a new cinema, a remodelled  Alex theatre and modernised Market hall.

The new cinema size was determined by the minimum needs of a modern complex capable of offering multiple daily choices to the many people who now travel to either Plymouth or Exeter for their entertainment offering. The facility was specified by potential operators and construction costs were met by a combination of grant and money paid for by Teignbridge DC, the cost of the TDC element being covered by the rents to be paid by the cinema operator  guaranteed by a 25 year lease. (only cinema operators who were free of debt and with experience of providing similar facilities in similar towns were considered)

The contract for the new building was dependent upon the granting of planning consent for the building the operator specified.

Opposition to these proposals and a decision by the Teignbridge Executive to refuse to consider the specified requirements of the operator means that this cannot now happen and the town will lose a modern cinema offering.

The options for the Alex theatre were always to retain a unit within the listed building structure that became a versatile entertainment space that could house a range of differing cultural activities. The specifications for what this meant was based on discussions with groups providing multiple similar facilities across the Southwest and they were very clear that to operate this type of venue successfully and generate the required income to be self-sustaining, a versatile internal arrangement was a basic requirement and this would mean that a cinema offering would be restricted to the showing of occasional ‘art’ type films as the interior space needed for other cultural activities, bands, music events, dances, and meetings, refreshment areas etc would require the use of removable seating on a daily basis and whilst this would be OK for short periods for plays etc it would prevent  permanent installations thus restricting the times when films could be shown. (Teignmouth being an example)

The needs of the market hall to expand the range of quality stall holders also meant the facilities needed to be improved and the amenities provided to encourage more local shopping to support a wider range of stall holders. Again a decision of the Teignbridge Executive to ignore the advice of heating experts to install a modern heating system tailored to deliver heating efficiently and cost effectively has resulted in a system requiring the roof of the building to be covered with air handling units and an increased running cost to stall holders of over £25000 per year, hardly encouraging new stallholders!

All of these issues and a constant failure to recognise the importance of the town of Newton Abbot and the needs of its residents in the pursuit of short term popularity ignores some serious and potentially terminal problems for Teignbridge and therefore Newton Abbot.

1. Teignbridge has no reserves available to fund any investment on its own and has a  £4million hole in its revenue budget projected for 2025
2. The cost of delivering amenities relies on Teignbridge borrowing to allow any investment.
3. Any investment relies on the income generated to cover the cost
4. No alternative proposals have shown any capability to pay the interest on the costs of delivery
5. Promises are being made that cannot be delivered
6. The current market loses over £70k per year and this is unsustainable
7. The projected £multi million development cost of the Alex cannot be met by Teignbridge unless income allows costs to be met
8. The grant given by the government has to be repaid because the agreed scheme cannot be delivered.

It is essential that residents recognise that the future of our town is uncertain, no deliverable vision is being put forward and there is no concept by the Dawlish dominated Teignbridge executive of the potential impact of the damage resulting from a lack of by decisions by the Lib Dem dominated Council.

I agree that a view of the ‘container’ on top of the new shops in Market Square is unacceptable, but coming up with an acceptable exterior design whilst delivering the quality internal cinema arrangement to have a successful cinema offering is not impossible, it just requires people in charge of the council to have faith in Newton Abbot and work with TDC officers and industry experts and accept their advice to deliver an acceptable solution.

Too often we have loud voices from people without the expertise of specialists and ignoring evidence dominating debates to pursue dogma or an alternative political agenda.

This has to stop for the benefit of our residents.

Phil Bullivant