Councillors told to ‘calm down’ in fractious Torbay budget meeting

Torbay councillors deciding how to manage a £335million budget fell out over spending £50,000 to clean street signs and wash pavements during a fractious meeting that had to be paused several times so they could calm down.

After one particularly bad-tempered exchange over hot-washing a pavement Cllr Alan Tyerman (Con, Churston with Galmpton), the cabinet member for finance, urged colleagues to stop ‘micro-managing’ and concentrate on the bigger picture.

“This evening has saddened me,” he said.

Mayor Barbara Lewis (Con, Preston) had to step in on a number of occasions to call for calm as Conservative and opposition councillors sparred over the details of the budget.

Cllr Tyerman told them to focus on finances which presented major problems in coming years as government financial support for the bay was cut even further.

“Ninety per cent of this discussion has been on things which are the responsibility of council officers,” he said. “But we are looking at very significant problems going forward, and we need to focus on them as adults, not arguing among ourselves.

“We would all like to see cleaner streets – we all have the same objectives – but we need to focus on the future. We need to be brave, sensible and adult about how we look after the best interests of our residents going forward.”

Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) said there were no cuts to services in this year’s ‘clear and disciplined’ budget. “There are not many council leaders who could stand here in 2026 and make that declaration,” he added. “I am proud of the financial position we have secured in Torbay.”

But Liberal Democrat group leader Swithin Long (Barton with Watcombe) said the council would have had more resources if it had increased Council Tax by more in previous years. And, he said, the latest budget meant ‘residents will be paying more but getting nothing in return’.

Cllr Darren Cowell (Ind, Shiphay) said not putting the tax up by the maximum allowed in previous years had cost the council £1million that could have been spent on local services.

Cllr Long proposed spending the £50,000 on dealing with ‘grubby’ street signs, which he said would make a real difference to local communities, and Cllr Cowell said spending another £50,000 cleaning up local shopping areas would show the council cared about communities away from the so-called ‘Final Mile’ of showpiece tourist areas.

“When you consider the size of our budget it’s incredible that we can’t unite over such a paltry sum of money,” he said.

But Cllr Thomas called for an end to the evening’s ‘anger and venom’ and said the council’s existing ‘Brighter Bay’ initiative would take care of things like grubby signs and streets.

“This feels like we would be taking £50,000 out of the Brighter Bay budget with one hand and putting it back in with the other,” he said.

After the long debate, the council’s budget plans were passed by a majority of one vote as councillors split down party lines. The two amendments put forward by Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors to spend £50,000 cleaning street signs and another £50,000 hot-washing local shopping areas were defeated in the same way.

The 4.99 per cent increase in Council Tax will mean a typical Band D household paying an extra £97 a year to Torbay Council. On top of that are ‘precepts’ for the police and the fire service and – in Brixham only – a town council.