Torbay Council is delighted to confirm that it will be delivering more homes for local people in Torquay.

The new homes will be on the site of the former Seabury Hotel on Manor Road, using the pioneering Hotels to Homes delivery model. 

Hotels to Homes is a landmark, Council-led, multi-million-pound investment programme designed to help address Torbay’s housing crisis by redeveloping brownfield sites.

All the homes will be provided to households with a local connection to Torbay and will be let at a ‘social rent’. This means that they will be affordable to local people living and working in the area.

The scheme is the second Hotels to Homes project after the Council agreed to purchase 14 homes for social housing at the former Brampton Court Hotel in Torquay in November 2024. 

Overall, it is the Council’s third social housing scheme now under way, with 23 homes for older people also under construction at the former St Kilda care home in Brixham. 

The Seabury site has planning consent for 14 homes secured by the previous owner.

Because the building is in a poor state, the Council has asked local specialist contractors to demolish it and clear the site ready for redevelopment. 

Local people will be given a chance to view and comment on the emerging proposals for the site.

The Council intends to use this scheme to help key local employers such as the NHS retain and attract staff to work and live in Torbay. This will support long-term sustainability of public services. 

How Hotels to Homes benefits local people and helps regeneration

Torbay Council has created the Hotels to Homes programme to increase the delivery of social housing and deal with some of the prominent run-down, derelict or abandoned former hotels and guest houses that can be found throughout the Bay.

Disused former hotel accommodation can attract anti-social behaviour and cause issues for the nearby community.  Bringing these sites back into use ends what can be a blight on neighbourhoods and helps the regeneration of Torbay.

Prioritising the re-use of brownfield land also helps protect greenfield sites and helps to reduce the carbon footprint of housing delivery when old buildings can be repurposed for modern, high quality affordable housing. 

Cllr Alan Tyerman, Cabinet Member for Housing and Finance, said: “We are committed to tackling the housing crisis in Torbay by pushing on with the delivery of social housing for local people in housing need.

“Our innovative Hotels to Homes scheme helps us to build the right homes in the right places, ideally located for access to local employment and services. Sites are acquired to either refurbish and convert into self-contained homes, or as with this case, demolish derelict buildings ready for new-build housing.

“I am delighted that we have acquired this site for our growing programme of ‘council housing’. We are working hard to understand how we can make the most of this opportunity to deliver well-designed, high quality new homes that will benefit the people of Torbay. 

“The acquisition of the two schemes so far is evidence of our commitment to make a real difference to people’s lives by taking action to increase the number of homes for social rent.

“I look forward to seeing the new scheme at Seabury take shape and hope the community will support and embrace the delivery of these much-needed new homes on a disused brownfield site for our local people.”

Hotels to Homes is a crucial element of the Council’s Housing Delivery Strategy

Torbay Council is committed to delivering high quality, affordable homes that meet the needs of our community.

Sam Irving, Head of Strategic Housing and Delivery, said: “It’s exciting to now develop a second site that we hope will help key local employers attract and retain staff in Torbay. 

“We often hear that the high cost of private rented and open market housing for sale is a barrier to economic prosperity and sustainability, and we hope that this scheme will contribute to addressing these issues.

“I’m grateful to our partners at Trowers and Hamlins and Bailey Partnership who worked so hard with our specialist in-house team to get this acquisition across the line.  

“And I’m looking forward to engaging with the local community as our plans emerge on how to bring the site back to life.

“We are working on proposals to create a financially sustainable social housing programme and we are looking for opportunities to expand Hotels to Homes throughout Torbay. 

“I would encourage landowners or developers with similar brownfield sites to reach out to us, to see if there might be an opportunity to use these to provide more much-needed social housing for local people.”