The 2008 Mayor's Vision - a master plan
That feeling of déjà vu sent a shiver through my body the
other morning when I pitched up at the Torbay Business Forum AGM in the Riviera
Centre. One part of the event was a presentation from two consultants tasked
with producing town master plans for Torquay and Paignton. Why the feeling of
déjà vu? Well sitting in front of me at the gathering was Nick Bye, a former
mayor of Torbay. You may remember Nick Bye’s Mayor’s Vision and because I’m
that sort of bloke I had recently taken the trouble to look through the large
colour book that had been produced at the time. This of course was also a sort
of master plan and so here we are a few years later going through a similar
costly consultancy process once again.
We seem to live in a time of master plans having recently
had sight of the Torbay Port Master Plan looking at the future of our three
harbours and the surrounding area. Doubtless you can probably list many other
master plans, focus groups, forum meetings, partnerships et cetera. Anyway the
little gathering of local business people, councillors and other folk at the
Riviera Centre listened attentively to the consultants as they told us many
things that we already knew but also humbly pointed out that they were still
getting to know the area. It also seemed
that there is a process of public engagement going on and yet many of the
people attending this meeting had not been aware of that, which worried me.
Hmm. I’ve just looked through the Torbay Council website and have failed to
find the dates for consultation. You might have better luck.
So my next question might be as to why people that should
know about consultation meetings don’t. Well one reason might simply be the
almost continuous deluge of local consultative meetings. I tend to keep my eye
on local events but actually attending them all seems an impossible task. I
once produced a simple model in an attempt to explain why certain folk pop up
at all the meetings. It seemed to me that you might draw three circles and
write the word retired in one, rich in another and restless in the other. To be
a regular attender you must be retired with ample time available, rich enough
to have the financial latitude not to be in the work place or simply restless
and therefore on a bit of a mission!
My point is that to attended many gatherings you need time
and understanding. The time to actually sit through often lengthy meeting and
that therefore becomes the bailiwick of those not having to work. Add to that
the ability to differentiate between the meetings that matter and the meetings
that don’t matter. Sitting through hours of pointless rhetoric is mind-numbing
and probably psychologically damaging!
Curiously this was the second Torbay Business Forum event
that I attended that week. The first one was a breakfast event, once again in
the Riviera Centre, at which the selected developer for the Torquay Pavilion
and surrounding area explained what was planned. You couldn’t fail to be impressed by the
stunning architectural design but of course there were a few raised eyebrows at
the potential transformation of Carry Gardens into a car park. Admittedly the
car park had the facility to be used for other purposes, such as a farmers
market, from time to time. All very
complicated and emotionally charged of course faced with the loss of that
lovely green space.
One thing is certain and that is the fact that we cannot
object to every development whilst still watching the fabric of our towns
deteriorate on a downward economic slide. Any objection and indeed vote of support
must be balanced. But to do that we must all engage. It is therefore absolutely
essential that local councils find a more efficient way to ensure that
information is easily available. Perhaps ultimately that may be by simply
banging on doors and talking to people!
Now here is something to think about when we think about the
future of our towns. Two speakers at the end of one of the events I attended
spoke about a technological master plan. South Devon College’s Simon Friend
offered a view of such a town and Grant Grafton of Sub10 Systems gave it
strategic balance. In post-Nortel
Paignton many of the highly skilled staff set up dynamic technology businesses
in South Devon and perhaps this is the time to drive forward the ‘Silicon
Valley’ concept.
One thing is certain and that is repeating previous
experience in the hope of a better outcome is dangerous. Albert Einstein was a clever chap and once
wisely said that if you do the same thing over and over again expecting a
different result then you must be insane. Food for thought when it comes to the
future of our community.
Keep the smile.
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