Torbay: the planning climate, and why it favours applicants now

The land supply

Torbay cannot currently show anywhere near the housing land it is required to. The council's own Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement (2025) sets the five-year requirement at 5,700 dwellings (including a 20% buffer; 1,140 a year) against a deliverable supply of 1,878 — about 1.65 years' worth [1]. When a council cannot demonstrate its housing land supply, national policy applies the presumption in favour of sustainable development. The NPPF was fully restructured on 17 August 2026: the presumption is now built into policies S3–S5, with an inability to show the required land supply and a sub-75% Housing Delivery Test score feeding policy S5's "evidenced unmet need" trigger, applicable to decisions from publication day [2]. In plain terms: for a well-designed scheme on a reasonable site, the starting position is yes.

Where the council's supply actually comes from

About 31% of the claimed supply is small windfall sites: the statement counts an explicit windfall allowance of 585 units on sites of under ten homes [1]. Many of the larger sites it counts are hotel and building conversions — the Imperial Hotel at 51 units, Roebuck House at 49, and several smaller hotel schemes [1]. Torbay's plan-making has leaned on windfall and conversion for years; the sites this brief surfaces are exactly the kind the council's own arithmetic depends on.

The window has an end date

The replacement Local Plan (2025–2045) reached its Regulation 19 publication stage in August 2026, with consultation to 24 September 2026, submission planned for December 2026 and adoption anticipated 2027/28 [3]. A newly adopted plan with fresh allocations will, in time, restore the council's position. Between now and then, applications are decided in the most applicant-favourable policy environment Torbay has seen in years.

Where local policy still has teeth

The three Neighbourhood Plans (all made June 2019) protect tourism in defined areas: inside the Core Tourism Investment Areas, converting tourism accommodation to residential is restricted (Torquay policies TT1–TT3; equivalent provisions in the Paignton plan), and outside them conversions of larger tourism premises must typically show twelve months' unsuccessful marketing [4]. There is, however, no Article 4 direction removing permitted development rights for HMO conversion or for Class MA commercial-to-residential anywhere in Torbay — only two 1998/2002 conservation-related directions exist [5]. And public money is actively pushing conversion: the £20.25m Levelling Up Partnership includes £3.25m specifically for converting former guesthouses into permanent homes [6].

What the appeal record shows

Since January 2023 the Planning Inspectorate has decided 228 Torbay appeals; 67 were allowed [7]. Torbay's own monitoring puts its five-year appeal allow rate at 31.8%, above the 29.4% national average, and records that appeal decisions have repeatedly delivered large slices of the borough's housing supply — 188 homes at Sladnor Park in 2022/23 and 373 at Inglewood in 2021/22 [8].

All from the Planning Inspectorate casework database [7]; references on request.

What this means for a developer

Sites that would have been marginal five years ago — backland plots, tired guesthouses outside the tourism areas, under-used commercial buildings — now sit in front of a council that cannot afford to say no without strong reasons. That is the climate this brief hunts in. In Torbay today the alternatives are an agent's phone call, a marketplace's dozen listings and a drive around the bay — all of them after the site is already for sale. The brief reads the registers before that.

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Sources

1. Torbay Council, Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement 2025: requirement 5,700 (1,140/yr incl. 20% buffer), supply 1,878 = 1.65 years; windfall allowance 585 units (31% of supply); Imperial Hotel 51, Roebuck House 49. torbay.gov.uk/media/q2feqz04/2025fiveyearsupply.pdf
2. MHCLG, National Planning Policy Framework, restructured edition published 17 August 2026: presumption as policies S3–S5; S5(1)(j) "evidenced unmet need"; Annex A applies it to decisions from publication day. gov.uk/government/publications/national-planning-policy-framework--2
3. Torbay Council news release, 13 August 2026 (Reg 19 consultation 13 Aug–24 Sep 2026; submission Dec 2026; adoption 2027/28). torbay.gov.uk/news/pr9560/ · draft plan: torbay.oc2.uk/document/1
4. Torquay Neighbourhood Plan (made 19 June 2019), policies TT1–TT3; Paignton Neighbourhood Plan policy PNP14.
5. Torbay Council conservation-area appraisals / Article 4 page: Churston 1998, Polsham 2002; no HMO or Class MA directions.
6. Torbay Council news release, 17 May 2024: Levelling Up Partnership £20.25m incl. £3.25m guesthouse conversion fund. torbay.gov.uk/news/pr9125/
7. Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (July 2026 edition), filtered to Torbay Council, decisions from 1 January 2023: 228 decided, 67 allowed, 138 dismissed, 7 split.
8. Torbay Council, Authority Monitoring Report 2022/23 (published January 2024): five-year allow rate 31.8% vs 29.4% nationally; Sladnor Park and Inglewood figures.
9. MHCLG, Housing Delivery Test: 2023 measurement (published 12 December 2024): Torbay 1,024 delivered vs 1,549 required = 66%, consequence "Presumption". No later measurement had been published at the date below.

Page last checked against its sources on 31 August 2026. The Regulation 19 consultation closes 24 September 2026; this page will be updated when the plan's status changes.