Brixham Public Realm improvements

About this engagement activity

Between Monday 3 and Friday 21 February 2025, residents and businesses, particularly those based in Brixham were encouraged to view and comment on the emerging ideas and share their thoughts on any other ideas they may have.

The emerging ideas that were developed by Torbay Council and Brixham Town Council were:

• Solar compacting bins
• Festoon lighting and 3D LED light projection
• Street furniture
• Pedestrian safety and harbour access
• Slipway pontoon
• Wayfinding and signage
• Redecoration and lighting

Ways to get involved

There were several ways that the community could find out about the proposals and share their
views.

• Online via the council's engagement platform
• By attending one of two drop-in events (Saturday 8 and Wednesday 19 February)

Business and community engagement

Prior to public engagement on the proposals being made public, a meeting was held with Brixham Town Council on Friday 5 December 2024.

Brixham Town Council were involved in the planning of the public engagement activity. Members of the consultation team also met with the Brixham Chamber of Commerce on Thursday 6 January 2025.

Responses to the proposals (online)

Four short questions were asked to understand what respondents thought of the proposals and to
gauge how often they visited the area.

1. Do you agree with the proposals being put forward to improve the public realm around the harbour?
2. Tell us a little bit about you.
3. When visiting Brixham town centre or harbour, how would you usually travel to the area?
4. How often do you currently visit the town centre or harbour?

Number of responses to each question

• Question 1: 222
• Question 2: 224
• Question 3: 216
• Question 4: 219

There is an issue with retrieving the online data from the council's software provider. The data currently only shows the number of respondents and not the breakdown of responses per question. The fault is under investigation with no timeline for resolution currently available.

Online respondents were asked to complete a short form that asked them to:

• Share ideas on other improvements they might like to see made in the future.
• Share thoughts on the proposals being put forward. For example, what they liked or disliked.

74 people completed the online form.

Responses to the proposals (face-to-face)

Do you agree with the proposals being put forward to improve the public realm area around the harbour?

• Yes: 72%
• Partially agree: 28%
• No: 0%

Tell us a little bit about you

• I am a Brixham resident: 100%
• I live elsewhere in Torbay: 0%
• I live in Torbay: 0%

When visiting Brixham town centre or harbour, how would you usually travel to the area?

• Walk: 69%
• Car: 23%
• Bus: 8%
• Cycle: 0%
• Taxi: 0%
• Ferry: 0%

How often do you currently visit the town centre or harbour?

• Daily: 64%
• Several times a week: 25%
• Weekly: 7%
• A couple of times a month: 4%
• Less than once a month: 0%
• Rarely: 0%
• A few times a year: 0%

Summary of responses

• Around 160 people attended the face-to-face events.
• The feedback shows that 72% of people who attended one of the face-to-face events agreed with the proposals, 28% partially agreed with the proposals.
• Over 99% of people that attended the face-to-face events were Brixham residents.
• 69% of people told us that they typically walked to the harbour or town centre area and caught
  the bus home.
• 64% of respondents visited the harbour or town centre area daily, a further 25% told us they
  visited several times a week.
• Those that attended the face-to-face events were asked to complete a paper copy of the online feedback form. 28 paper feedback forms were completed, bringing the total number of feedback forms completed to 102.

Using AI to analyse the data

The AI tool, Chatpgt was asked to ‘Review to review the information and summarise the responses to each question and group together key themes that can be used in an evaluation report’.

The AI summary report concluded the following:

The dataset consists of 102 responses, each with feedback on public realm proposals and general ideas related to the Brixham area. The relevant columns for summarising the responses are:

• Please use this space to share your areas. This column captures general ideas or suggestions.
• Use this space to share your thoughts on the proposals being put forward. This column captures specific reactions to the proposals.

Key themes identified in the evaluation report:

General improvements and needs

• Public toilets. Several responses mention the need for improvements to public toilet
  facilities.
• Transportation infrastructure. The bus station and its surroundings are highlighted as
  needing upgrades.
• Harbour area. Feedback suggests enhancing the whole harbour area, especially the
  Golden Hind area.

Smart technology and sustainability

• Smart bins. Several responses suggest trialling smart bins before fully removing
  traditional bins.
• Greenery and sustainability: Suggestions include adding more greenery without an excess of weeds, highlighting a desire for sustainable and aesthetically pleasing outdoor spaces.

Public space design and aesthetic appeal

• Lighting. The concept of ‘pretty lights’ is mentioned in terms of responsibility for
  maintenance and possibly improving public space ambiance.
• Bins. While some respondents like the idea of high-tech bins, others are critical,
  suggesting the aesthetic or practical aspects of the bins may not fit the desired public
  realm vision.

Prioritisation of projects

• Some respondents express a preference for prioritising certain projects, such as bus
  station upgrades or public space beautification over others.

Raising awareness of the proposals

The proposals were widely promoted across a range of Torbay Council channels (amplified by Brixham Town Council) to encourage participation.

Press release

A press release was issued on Tuesday 4 February 2025, a copy is published on Torbay Council’s
website. 

The release generated coverage from the following outlets both online and on their social media
channels.

• BBC: Council gets £750k of investment to enhance Brixham harbourside
• Torbay Weekly: £750k investment announced for Brixham harbourside
• Radio Exe: £750,000 investment for Brixham harbourside

One Torbay

The proposals were promoted in the One Torbay weekly resident newsletter.

Friday 7 February 2025, to 11,882 subscribers, there were 492 clicks from the newsletter to the project page or the press release.

Friday 14 February, to 11,881 subscribers, there were 136 clicks from the newsletter to the project page.

Source: Gov Delivery, platform used by Torbay Council to send email updates.

Members’ briefing

The Members’ briefing was sent on Tuesday 4 February 2025. The briefing was shared with Brixham Town Council who cascaded to all Brixham Town Councillors.

Social media

A total of five social media posts were published across Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Nextdoor to raise awareness of the proposals, ways to get involved and to encourage participation.

The top performing posts were on Facebook.

A summary of the top performing posts across the different social media platforms can be seen in the following images.

Figure 1: Social media posts which generated the most clicks (ranked from first to and sixth)

Read an accessible description of figure 1.

These posts generated 467 clicks to either the project webpage or the press release.

Posts generated a total of 352 reactions (likes), 71 shares and 112 comments.

Source: Orlo, Regeneration Campaign Report (3 February to 3 March 2025)

Printed material

To support the face-to-face events, information boards on the proposals were printed and on display.

Summary

The community responded well to the proposals with most respondents either agreeing or partially agreeing with the ideas.

Some additional information is needed on the floating pontoon and harbour access safety proposals.

Both Brixham Town Council and Brixham Chamber of Commerce were fully supportive of the engagement activity which helped us to reach a wider audience.