Torquay big wheel will 'lift the spirits' for years to come

Planners unanimous despite heritage harm concerns

Torquay’s seafront big wheel will continue to ‘lift the spirits’ of the town for years to come after the local planning committee gave it a unanimous thumbs up.

The wheel will be put up beside the Princess Theatre for the next four summers.

Members of Torbay council’s planning committee noted objections from the Torbay Heritage Trust and Historic England, who feel that the 45-metre wheel is unacceptable in such a sensitive location beside the resort’s war memorial.

But councillors decided the advantages of having the wheel outweighed the harm it causes.

Cllr Nick Bye (Con, Wellswood) said the wheel, a seafront summer fixture for the last decade, complemented the setting rather than harming it.

“The wheel is exactly what you would expect to find in a tourism area,” he said. “We know visitors very much enjoy it, and residents very much enjoy it.

“I’m always sad at the end of the season when it goes, because it feels like that’s it for the year, and I’m always excited when it comes back.

“It lifts the spirits.”

Operators Mellors will spend £110,000 over the next four years resurfacing paths in the gardens nearby as a way of offsetting the harm created by the wheel. In recent years the company’s contributions have refurbished the war memorial and the fountain in the gardens.

Jon Pope of Mellors told the meeting the wheel is "an iconic feature that acts as a magnet for drawing in tourism." Council officer Jim Blackwell said it is hard to quantify the wheel’s value to Torbay, but pointed out the number of times its picture appeared on the cover of reports and other documents.

Committee chairman Martin Brook (Con, Collaton St Mary) added: “Tourism is Torbay’s primary economic sector. To advertise the area we need these spectacular pictures.

“We have used this wheel for years to pull in the four or five million visitors we need each year.

“We can’t underestimate what the wheel does.”