LOCAL ISSUES
I see that Bideford's new marine Millenium Fountain is now up and running, paid for by the Millenium Commission.
It is but a pale shadow of the marine fountain I advocated for Torbay, which would have given the whole Bay a signature feature. But my idea was turned down at the time in favour of a 'Timeline'; basically a line of red bricks along the seafront. That scheme was quite rightly turned down by the Millenium Commission as 'unworthy', and funding was refused. Yet another opportunity wasted.
This is symptomatic of the malaise in this area, so accurately portrayed in Richard Morgan's article and backed up by Trevor Fines letter (Your View 25.1.06). There are too many people in this area intent on keeping the economy, politics and aspirations of Torbay moribund.
Everwhere I go in this country, I find that Britain is thriving, and the pace of improvement is enormous, yet when I come back to Torbay, it is like going back 50 years, to a depressed, apathetic, run down town which looks backwards rather than forwards.
Torbay has great natural beauty, but there are many areas of the Borough which are crying out for updating and modernisation
