Jim Parker: Hospital car park deal could prove vital for Torbay's town centres regeneration plans

You could understand the reservations from some as a plan to hand over a valuable chunk of land earmarked for employment use and jobs to Torbay Hospital for a car park was put on the table.
But behind the scenes and looking at the bigger picture this wasn’t just about more car parking spaces, this WAS about jobs and getting multi-million pound regeneration projects to breathe new life into Torquay and Paignton town centres off the ground and over the line.
Torbay councillors at an extraordinary cabinet meeting were being asked to give the go-ahead to the car park deal for land next to the Wickes store on the outskirts of Torquay at Edginswell.
Remember, this was the same Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and Torbay Council who were now being asked to agree on something just a couple of weeks after they had fallen out over a health and care services partnership.
The Trust pulled the plug on a pioneering Integrated Care Organisation with the local authority when delivering adult social care services because it was costing them millions of pounds.
Council leaders may have been forgiven for wanting to stick two fingers up to the trust with their new parking plea, but there was much more at stake here — redevelopment of the Union Square and Victoria Square shopping centres in Torquay and Paignton to be precise and the big part the NHS has to play in those game-changing projects as central ‘health hub-type’ partners.
The cabinet meeting heard the Trust wants to use the land for parking for up to five years, with future proposals to eventually move medical electronics departments and patient transport services there after that.
Torbay Council deputy leader Chris Lewis (Con, Preston) said selling the land to the trust was a ‘strategic investment in the future of healthcare for our community’.
But shadow cabinet leader Swithin Long (Lib Dem, Barton with Watcombe) warned him: “In 20 years time it could still be a car park.”
Councillors on all sides, including Independent Darren Cowell, said they had concerns over the proposal to sell the land which has been earmarked for employment use.
But an 11th-hour letter from health trust chief executive Joe Teape explained that the trust had other plans for it.
The ‘extraordinary’ cabinet meeting itself was called with just one item on the agenda because a deal had to be done by the end of March for the Trust to secure funding.
In his letter Mr Teape said the vision for the site was to accommodate a range of healthcare support services, and moving them away from the main hospital site would release land there for projects including a possible multi-storey car park and other major buildings to modernise the hospital.
Cllr Alan Tyerman (Con, Churston with Galmpton) said he had concerns over the possible loss of employment land until the late letter explained the details. And, he said, the council retained the right to take back the land if it was not used as intended.
In light of that, he said, selling it was ‘absolutely’ the right thing to do — and the cabinet agreed.
Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) highlighted the trust’s controversial decision last week to end the adult social care partnership.
He said: “I remain deeply disappointed about that, and I am very conscious that people might expect today to be about settling the score, and revenge for a decision that did not go my way, but that’s not what leadership looks like. We will act in the interests of our community and not in the heat of the moment.”
Cllr Lewis told me after the meeting: “This is for the hospital. It frees up more space for the hospital for clinical work. The car park is a red herring. It is on a temporary basis.”
He added: “We got the Edginswell business park kick started and that has meant Torbay jobs.”
He said there had been talk of car dealerships and a Tesco superstore going on the vacant land in the past but said: “The land has been derelict for 15 years. If the NHS wants to lease it why should we turn it down.”
Town centre regeneration schemes in Torquay and Paignton may include a mix of health hubs and accommodation, including affordable housing, and other uses.
Cllr Lewis said: “We are talking to the NHS about Union Square and Victoria Square, which will provide jobs.
“GP practices and community services may move away from the hospital which is what their plans are. They have already started that with their diagnostic centre in Market Street in Torquay.”
He added: “I was not directly involved with the adult social care section 75 issue to the extent that Dave Thomas was as leader. Mine has been with regeneration.
“We want what is best for Torbay. It is about employment and real jobs.
“It is a case of looking at the bigger picture. We need the NHS as one of our biggest employers for potential investment in two of the Bay’s key regeneration sites.”
Council leader Dave Thomas also told me: “It is about leadership. It is about relationships. In order to work together you need to create a relationship.
“The reality is that the council and Trust are big partners in the Bay. The health service is the biggest employer in the Bay. If those two organisations do not speak or work together that is a big negative for Torbay.
“Nobody within either organisation wants to get to that position.”
He said the money for the new car park was a late grant. It had to be ‘spent’ by March 31 or given back to the government. The Trust was also told that if the money was not used it would be assumed that overall capital budgets were okay and they may have even faced cuts.
“It was a double whammy,” said Cllr Thomas.
He added: “It is important that it works for the hospital. One of the biggest complaints over the past 20 years is about parking at the hospital. Every single patient, visitor, doctor or member has complained about the parking and a high amount of appointments have been missed because people could not find anywhere to park.
“This space will allow the hospital to eventually put a multi-storey car park on the hospital site.
“It is part of a big jigsaw puzzle. The schemes that are coming forward in the town centres are about providing a health space. It is a win, win for everybody.”
Cllr Lewis said: “These things do take time, but we have to get it right. It has to stack up financially. That is why the NHS is important.”
Any partnership to get things moving in our forlorn high streets has to be welcomed and protected.
Negotiations and a lot of work are going on behind the scenes but some movement would be welcomed with open arms.
Cllr Lewis revealed that a planning application for the Debenhams site and a new four-star hotel on Torquay harbourside should be submitted very soon…