Challenge 2: Torbay Council

Michael Barrett:
It's challenge two and we are in the South West and we're at Torbay Council and this challenge is being hosted in the stunning Torre Abbey. It's brilliant to be in the South West. This challenge is all about setting a coastal vision for the three towns of Brixham, Paignton and Torquay.

Virginia Ponton:
The programme covers a range of different competencies across all of the five challenges and on this one in particular we think they'll be focusing a lot on innovation and business acumen.

Matt Reeks:
Torbay is glorious. It sits between the stunning Dartmoor National Park landscape and then 22 miles of coastline which create the bay of Torbay. We're looking for our contestants to create for us an overarching vision of how that coastline can look, what the opportunities are, especially linking it in to the variety of other elements, the deprivation, the health and wellbeing, the public health, tourism, commerciality. It's how can we use that coastline both to deliver the best for residents and tourists, but also work within and help to other our answer or other challenges and agendas that the council have.

Virginia Ponton: 
And for councils we do see them bringing together a huge range of colleagues, external stakeholders, different partners into these challenges. So it really serves as a nice way to bring people together and work across different issues and opportunities in a really unique, different way.

Michael Barrett:
Our contestants will be going out onto the water in ferries, on foot along the coastal pathways and also taking part in a minibus tour up and down the coastline. We're normally in city centres, in town halls, so being in a place like Torre Abbey is a great opportunity to really get a sense of the culture of the local area.

Karl Falconer:
I love this challenge, I think it's such a relevant challenge because it's one of the really interesting shared challenges for rural and coastal communities. I work in Cumberland where we have the same exact problem. People think it's a tourist destination, but actually there's so much more complexity to a place like Torbay or Cumberland than just the tourism aspect. It's about actually how do you get out of and break away from that historical vision of what a seaside town is for and who it's for. I think there's a big strong theme of creativity in this challenge, which is what drew me to it particularly. I think our initial thoughts into this challenge are really about engaging with people, bringing them along on the journey, finding out what matters to them, thinking about how that is supported through infrastructure and how that balances the historic role and the cultural role of a place like Torbay with what that looks like for the future and how a seaside town kind of sees itself into the 21st century.

Shannon Kennedy:
We've got quite a few factors that we're looking at the moment. Some of our more strategic solution is looking at a neighbourhood working model. So that would probably force a bit of a restructure of the way that the council has staff that specifically engage in communities, co-produce local plans with communities. There is also already some really strong partnership and third sector work, so it's about enhancing that. The other part is physically improving that coastal path and using that coastal path as the spine of the bay, which I think is a phrase that's in the local plan, making sure that there's unified branding along that coastal path, unified wayfinding, strong lighting, so that actually along that path, that's your backbone of Torbay. That is where your identity comes from as a locational area.

Cllr David Thomas
But when we were actually coming to analyse at the end, there were two really great proposals. We opted for team Paradigm. I felt team Athena was very strategic, whereas the team Paradigm was something that we could actually hold, something we could grasp, and something I felt I could buy in, believe in, and deliver at first opportunity. So that's why we went with team Paradigm.

Karl Falconer:
I think the reflection on this experience starts now. The feedback at the end from the judging panel is really, really helpful. I think what's really exciting about this programme is the fact that you really realise those transferable skills that you've got. So you're dumped into a challenge that you don't know anything about. It might be totally out of your skillset, but actually then you realise it's about how quickly you retain that information, how you strategically think, and how you work together and rely on the people in your team. So it's such a great opportunity. It doesn't really reflect any other kind of learning opportunity that you get in your career, I think.

Shannon Kennedy:
I'm really pleased that the project came across with the passion and enthusiasm that we held for it, and they were really able to understand the potential of the positive impact this could have. And it feels nice that all of the hard work and the intense emotion that has gone in from every member of the team over the last 30 hours was rewarded by the win.