Why invest in South Devon
Investing in South Devon.
Starting with the obvious lure of its unmatched Charm, 3 areas of natural beauty, over 120 miles of stunning coastline and beaches and acres of rolling unspoilt countryside. South Devon’s mixture of coastal and rural towns and villages attracts investment from locals, to UK wide and across Europe and beyond.
Let’s look at the facts:
(source - Devon County Council Website)
· Growing economy – now worth over £23 billion. 19.1% growth over the last five years (UK average 16.1%) .
· Plentiful, skilled workforce – over a third of the population educated to degree standard or above, rising to 43% in parts.
· High employment rates – 78.3% compared to the UK average of 74.5%.
· Research and development capability – the South West has soared ahead of other parts of the UK in R&D. Devon has among the highest number of granted patents in the region.
· Strength in higher education – a large proportion of academic research from our 3 leading universities is rated as world-leading or internationally excellent.
· Innovation and entrepreneurship – Devon’s business survival rate is over 5% above the national average and the number of patents granted per capita is 3 times the UK average.
· Easy access to markets – one of the UK’s fastest growing airports and rapid transport links make Devon an excellent gateway to the UK, Europe and beyond.
· Lower overheads – labour costs in Devon are highly competitive, rents and rates for office space, retail premises and factories are also significantly lower.
· Outstanding quality of life – consistently ranked the best place in the UK to live.
Reasons to invest in Torbay:
Torbay has the right ingredients for successful investment and sustainable growth. With prime investment sites, Torbay continues to bring forward ambitious, high quality new developments and is seeking partners to deliver transformational schemes. Torbay is already seeing residential sales values of between £330 and £530 psf, depending on location, and improving commercial space yields Torbay is ambitious.
We have embarked on an exciting town centre regeneration programme. This will provide great opportunities for investment, bringing forward more than 500 new homes, almost 9,000 sq mts of commercial space. We want to see new hotels, a refreshed retail offer and more diversity in our town centres. Now is a great time to invest in Torbay.
Torbay remains a very attractive visitor destination, attracting over 3.5M day trips and more than 1M overnight visitors, and the tourism industry is worth around £435M in Torbay. Jewels in the Torbay’s crown include Agatha Christie, Torre Abbey, UNESCO geopark, a wonderful food and drink offer, many tourist attractions, vibrant harbours and a busy events calendar, including Air Shows and sailing events.
In October 2017, the Council agreed a £25m Town Centre Regeneration Fund to deliver at least 5 regeneration projects, including:
A hotel at Harbour View (part of Terrace Car Park), Torquay
A mixed-use development at South Quay, Paignton Harbour
Refurbishment of Lower Union Lane Multi-Storey Car Park, Torquay
Public realm improvements between Torbay Road, Victoria Street and Paignton Train and Bus Stations
A public realm improvement project for Torquay Town Centre
New road infrastructure, including the recently opened £110M South Devon Highway, giving fast and reliable connectivity to national and international markets, with easy access to Exeter and Bristol airports. This investment has been complemented by major road improvements around Torquay and Paignton, improvements to rail and bus services. Further infrastructure investment will see a new station being built, in 2018, to serve Torquay Gateway, further improvements to town centres, increased broadband speed and capacity.
Source: Torbay-Inward-Investment-1 (1).pdf