‘They are blowing a raspberry at the mayor’

NICK BYE has accused councillors of ‘blowing raspberries at the mayor’ in an outburst following a decision to defer a major planning application.

The first citizen accused councillors of ‘foolish behaviour’ after Monday’s planning meeting.

Cllrs Peter Addis, Roger Carter, David Thomas, Beryl McPhail and Mike Morey voted to defer a planning application for a gym, office, flats, retails units and a shop on the site of numbers four to 24 Torwood Street and the former Royal garage.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Bye said he was a ‘despondent mayor’.

He said: “It is investment, it is exactly what we want. These people do not have to come and invest. The message has got to be that Torbay is open for business.

“My understanding is there were no real reasons explained for the deferral.”

He claimed: “It is silly politics that have cost Torbay dearly in the past. It is the run up to an election and this is a mayoral vision project. Maybe they are blowing raspberries at the mayor. It is foolish behaviour.”

Mayor Bye claimed the planning committee was dominated by people who want to hold back Torbay.

“Let’s hope the electorate know who those people are and vote accordingly in May,” he said.

Cllr Addis said he absolutely refuted Mr Bye’s comments.

“I am not blowing raspberries at the mayor. That would be futile and completely infantile,” he said.

Cllr Addis said he was not on the committee when the application was last considered and was not as familiar with it as other councillors.

He reiterated comments made at the meeting saying: “I do not think it serves the people of Torbay well if councillors are not satisfied they understand it completely. I do not think it serves the people well to vote for something we still have worries about.

“As far as I am concerned it was the right thing to do.”

Cllr Carter was also angry at the suggestion that the vote was taken for reasons other than the scheme’s planning merits.

He said: “That is absolute nonsense. I was born in Torbay and I desperately want to see it regenerated, but I do not want to be criticised in the future when people dislike it.

“We need to have a fresh look at it. The architect provided bland elevations rather than details.”

Cllr Thomas said the mayor’s comments were ‘childish’ and the decision of the planning committee had nothing to do with the mayor.

He said the council had the technology to provide a 360-degree fly-through of the scheme and he wanted to see that before he made a decision.

He added: “The development can be viewed from 360 degrees.

“There is a different view of it from the top of Torwood Street than there is from the harbour. We should use the technology for members to totally understand how something is going to look.”

He said he doesn’t want another situation like the one with the sports hub at Paignton Community College where committee members don’t fully understand how the building will look from different locations.

We were unable to contact cllrs McPhail and Morey for a comment.