Our Corporate Plan sets out three themes by which the council ensures services are targeted in securing a healthy, prosperous and happy Torbay. These themes are;

  • Investing in the future
  • Protecting the vulnerable
  • Spending less money to greater effect

Despite facing significant budget challenges, we have delivered or enabled significant achievements, some of which are set out in this document.

Awards

We have received the following awards for our work and achievements from the 1 April 2015 to present. 

We were announced as Most Improved Council at the 2023 Local Government Chronicle Awards. The award was given in recognition of the progress we have made over the last couple of years. The judges unanimously agreed that our submission was:

‘a fine example of organisation improvement evidenced with financial grip and the humility to recognise the need to continue this impressive improvement trajectory’.

Torre Abbey Museum and Torbay Airshow were awarded gold for categories Visitor Attraction of the Year and Best Tourism Event or Festival of the Year respectively at the prestigious Herald Express English Riviera and South Devon Tourism & Hospitality Awards held in November 2017.  Grinagog Festival also received a nomination.

The project wins a Green apple award for it's environmental activities.

Galliford Try, in partnership with Devon County Council and Torbay Council scooped gold in the Waste Management category. The award recognises the project’s good involvement with the community, efforts to protect flora and fauna, and the re-use of locally-won materials.

This recognises the Living Well@Home project, which is a partnership between the council’s Joint Commissioning Team, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and Mears Care Limited. It is a new and innovative approach to supporting and caring for people at home.

Peter Prowse from Paignton was named Teenage Foster Carer 2015 at the FosterTalk Foster Carer Awards. Peter started fostering with Torbay Council over seven years ago and this accolade gives him national recognition for his help and support.

This is a Torbay, Devon and Plymouth initiative which was launched earlier in the year to help encourage more people to adopt children.

Enterprising Britain Award recognises outstanding innovation and ambition.

The Enterprising Britain Awards 2015 are part of the Government's drive to increase entrepreneurial activity in the UK. The Ready for Export project, which offers a series of practical export advice services and clinics to South Devon businesses, has won the Support for Exporting category.

Torbay Council, South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group, South Devon Healthcare Foundation Trust have received national recognition and funding for an ambitious emergency care strategy, which will help reduce pressure on Torbay Hospital’s A&E department. Under the scheme, urgent care will be delivered not just in hospitals, but also by GPs, pharmacists, community teams, ambulance services, NHS 111, social care and others.

The historic attraction won two awards in the Herald Express run Tourism and Hospitality Awards. It was shortlisted in the ‘Best Visitor Attraction’ and ‘Tourism Experience/Activity’ categories.

Lorrie Layne was nominated by the Torbay Community Development Trust for his enormous contribution to supporting people in the bay, particularly in the more deprived areas. Lorrie was one of 38 individuals from councils, clinical commissioning groups and community groups who were commended by Locality, the network of enterprising community-led organisations.

Torbay Council and local firm Kay Elliott Architects have been recognised for their collaborative and innovative approach to the design and build of Abbey Sands whilst ensuring the project met the requirements of the Building Regulations. This prestigious award recognises the excellent standards that can be achieved when customers work in partnership with their local authority building control service.

The project scooped two accolades at this year’s ‘MJ Awards 2015’ in both the ‘Behaviour Change’ and ‘Delivering Better Outcomes’ categories. The Municipal Journal Awards recognise outstanding achievements by local authorities across the UK. Virtually S@fe, which is led by Devon and Cornwall Police, Torbay Council and Hele’s Angels aims to keep children safer online.

Torbay Council’s multi-agency housing team was shortlisted for their work tackling Rogue Landlords in the bay.

Out of England’s 141 award winning beaches, Torbay proudly tops the list of the most Seaside Awards received with a total of ten! Of these, Breakwater, Meadfoot and Oddicombe have also won Blue Flag awards. This gives visitors and residents confidence in our safe and enjoyable beaches that have good standards of management, cleanliness and safety.

The Torbay Council run attraction has been recognised as a top performing attraction as reviewed by travellers on the world's largest travel site.

The Royal Institute of British architects (RIBA) presented the award for the second phase of restoration undertaken at the Torre Abbey site.

This project was shortlisted in the Active Devon Project of the Year category. Launched in 2014, this initiative with Teignbridge District Council and Active Devon offers a programme of sessions such as Buggy Fit and Mama Pilates to encourage new mums to get active whilst bonding with their new babies.

Torquay has been voted the fourth best-rated tourist destination and number one seaside resort by Trip Advisor®. It is one of only two in the South of England to be amongst the best rated in the country.