That the Cabinet supports the submission of a Town Investment Plan and delegates the decision, on exact content of the submission, to the Head of Finance, in consultation with the Leader of the Council.

The Cabinets support for the submission of the Town Investment Plan was sought in order to comply with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Governments submission deadline at the end of July 2020.

Alternative options were set out in the submitted report.

The decision in respect of Torquay Town Deal will come into force immediately as the decision maker has decided that any delay likely to be caused by the call-in process would prejudice the Council’s interest.  The Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinator was consulted on 2 July 2020.

Torquay was selected by Government in November of last year to be one of 101 English towns invited to submit a Town Investment Plan. The purpose of this town deal is to secure a Town Deal, setting out a partnership with Government, and up to £25 million of Town Fund investment.  The Town Investment Plan is intended to set out a strategic programme of investment designed to capture, for national government, the ambitions of a place and the projects intended to realise that ambition.

Torquay is a cohort one town and as such will submit the Town Investment Plan on or before 31^st July.  The Town Investment Plan sets out the assets, opportunities and vision for the town and will be submitted by the Council based on the advice of the Town Board.

The Town Investment Plan will when finalised set out the justification for the requested Town Fund investment of circa £25 million, the projects that the Towns Fund will support and indicative levels of investment from other public and private sector sources.

Councillor Long proposed and Councillor Cowell seconded a motion that was agreed unanimously by the Cabinet as set out above.

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