Torbay

Torbay is a borough in Devon, England, administered as a unitary authority by Torbay Borough Council. It consists of 62.88 sqkm of land spanning the towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, which together occupy an east-facing natural harbour by the English Channel. Torbay is roughly equidistant from the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. A popular tourist destination with a tight connurbation of resort towns, Torbay's sandy beaches, mild climate and recreational and leisure attractions have given rise to the nickname of the English Riviera.

History
That Torbay has been inhabited since paleolithic times is shown by human bones and tools found in Kents Cavern in Torquay. A maxilla fragment known as Kents Cavern 4 may be the oldest example of a modern human in Europe, dating back to 37,000–40,000 years ago. Roman soldiers are known to have visited Torquay during the period when Britain was a part of the Roman Empire, leaving offerings at a curious rock formation in Kent's Cavern, known as "The Face".

Both Brixham and Paignton appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 and Paignton was given the status of a borough having a market and fair in 1294. The first major building in Torquay was Torre Abbey, a Premonstratensian monastery founded in 1196.

William Prince of Orange (afterwards King William III) landed in Brixham on 5 November 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, and issued his famous declaration "The Liberties of England and The Protestant Religion I Will Maintain".

Torquay's economy was, like Brixham's, initially based on fishing and agriculture, but in the early 19th century it began to develop into a fashionable seaside resort, initially frequented by members of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars while the Royal Navy anchored in Torbay and later, as the town's fame spread, by Victorian society.

The historic part of Paignton is inland: the low-lying coastal fringe was originally salt marsh. Kirkham House is a late medieval stone house which is open to the public at certain times of year, and the Coverdale Tower adjacent to Paignton Parish Church is named after Bishop Miles Coverdale, who published an English translation of the Bible in 1536. Paignton remained a small fishing village until the early 19th century; a new harbour was built here in 1837.

The second phase in the expansion of Torbay began when Torre railway station was opened in December 1848. The railway was extended to Paignton in 1859 and to Brixham in 1861. As a result of its expansion, Torquay was granted borough status in 1872, and 1902 saw its first marketing campaign to summer tourists.

Torbay hosted the sailing events for the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

The County Borough of Torbay was created in 1968 by the amalgamation of the Municipal Borough of Torquay, Urban District of Paignton and Urban District of Brixham, also taking in parts of the civil parishes of Coffinswell and Kerswells from Newton Abbot Rural District and Churston Ferrers and Marldon from Totnes Rural District. The County Borough became the Borough of Torbay under local government reorganisation in 1974. It was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998 making it responsible for its own affairs.

Governance
The area is represented nationally at the House of Commons by two MPs. Torquay (along with part of Paignton) is in the Torbay parliamentary constituency which was created in 1974 and has been held by Adrian Sanders of the Liberal Democrats since 1997. Brixham and part of Paignton fall within the Totnes constituency, with Conservative Sarah Wollaston elected. Torbay is in the South West England constituency of the European Parliament, together with the rest of South West England and Gibraltar.

Torbay Council is headed by the first directly elected mayor in the South West region. Conservative candidate Nicholas Bye became the first mayor elected under this system in October 2005, under an electoral system which was later described as "a total failure" with Bye receiving votes from fewer than 7% of the electorate. He beat Liberal Democrat Nicholas Pannell in the second round of counting with a total of 7,096 votes to Pannell's 5,197. After the election, Bye noted the general apathy towards the concept displayed during the election, stating: "it is quite clear from canvassing that a lot of people did not want an elected mayor." The most recent mayoral election took place on 5 May 2011, in which Bye lost to Gordon Oliver.

For local elections the district is divided into 15 wards. The Council elects 36 councillors in elections held every four years. Since the Torbay Council election, 2011, the council has a Conservative majority. The composition as of 28 June 2012 was:

Geography
There are three main towns around the bay: Torquay in the north, Paignton in the centre, and Brixham in the south, which have become connected over the years, swallowing up villages and towns such as St Marychurch, Cockington, Marldon, Churston Ferrers and Galmpton. Torbay is bordered by the South Hams to the south and west, and by Teignbridge to the north. Nearby towns include Totnes and Dartmouth in the South Hams, and Newton Abbot and Teignmouth in Teignbridge.

The southern limit of Torbay is Berry Head, and the northern limit is Hopes Nose, although Torquay itself stretches further north into Babbacombe Bay, where the beaches at Oddicombe and Babbacombe can be found; these are noted for their interesting Breccia cliffs. Torbay's many geological features have led to the establishment of the English Riviera Geopark; as of July 2008, this is the sole urban geopark of the 53 geoparks worldwide.

Because of the mild climate, Torbay palm trees are a common sight along the coast. However, this 'palm' is in fact a lily (Cordyline australis), originating from New Zealand where it is known as cabbage tree due to its edible young shoots. These trees also flourish elsewhere in the UK. It is suggested that the popularity of cabbage trees in Torbay is attributable to their first being introduced to the UK in that region.

Economy
Torbay's main industry is tourism. It has a large number of European students learning English.

The fishing port of Brixham is home to one of England and Wales' most successful fishing fleets and regularly lands more value than any UK port outside Scotland. It is also a base for Her Majesty's Coastguard and the Torbay Lifeboat Station.

Torbay has been twinned with Hameln in Lower Saxony, Germany since 1973; and with Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands since 1989.

Transport
Torbay lacks direct motorway links and is primarily served by the A380 road from Exeter. The last stretch of road, from Newton Abbot via Kingskerswell is mostly single carriageway and is often congested in summer and during commuter hours. There have been plans to remedy the situation though alternative routes were difficult to find because the road passes by areas of outstanding natural beauty. A bypass had been planned since as early as the 1930s and has come close on a few occasions to being built: the latest plan was halted in autumn 2008, and in October 2010 it was confirmed that the bypass was not one of the 24 schemes that had been approved. However in November 2011 the government awarded £74.6 million towards the cost of the bypass, and the county council stated that it hoped that construction would start in October 2012 with completion in December 2015.

Torbay's other main road links are the A379, which follows a coastal route from Teignmouth, passes through Torquay and Paignton, then goes on to Dartmouth; and the A385 which goes inland to Totnes and the A38.

The bus franchise is largely operated by Stagecoach South West of the similarly named group, that operates a large share of the market in Torbay and the neighbouring towns of South Devon. Open top buses are operated by Stagecoach and other companies in the summer.

Torbay has three stations on the National Rail network, operated by First Great Western: Torre railway station is inland on the road from Torquay to Newton Abbot, Torquay railway station is close to Torre Abbey Sands and Paignton railway station serves that town and links with the heritage Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway to Kingswear connecting via the Dart ferry to Dartmouth.

Notable people
Famous former residents of Torbay include authors Agatha Christie (who set many of her novels in a thinly disguised version of the borough), Charles Kingsley, Edmund Gosse and Rudyard Kipling. Peter Cook, comic, (half of a famous comedy team with Dudley Moore); the industrialist and architect of the nearby Atmospheric railway, Isambard Kingdom Brunel; Prog-rock band Wishbone Ash, supermodel Lily Cole, comedian Jim Davidson, tennis player/TV presenter Sue Barker also originate from the area.