Torquay Magistrates' Court to be sold for more than £600k

Torquay Magistrates Court has gone up for sale for more than half a million pounds. It's expected that the site will eventually be turned into flats.

The building has been out of use since 2017, when it ceased hearing cases for the final time. HM Courts and Tribunals Service decided to close the court in February 2016 to save annual running costs of £108,000.

The closure came despite a protest campaign by then Torbay MP Kevin Foster and widespread opposition from magistrates, lawyers, police and members of the public. But at the time, Chris Peach, who was chairman of the South and West Devon Magistrates’ Bench, said the court was "no longer fit for purpose" and that it was "a logical conclusion" to put money towards improving facilities at Newton Abbot Magistrates Court.

In 2022, Richardson Group applied for permission to convert the building into 14 two and three-bed flats, with bicycle storage and car parking. Torbay Council approved the plans in December 2022, on the condition that work would begin within three years.

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The group, which is also behind Richardson Hotels, bought the site in 2021 and said that it wanted to "breathe new life" into the area. In a planning document, it said: "The proposals address the changing nature of the town centre, by creating good quality residential apartments in the previous civic building.

"The scheme will help tackle the housing crisis in Torbay, breathe new life into the top end of Union Street and set a high standard for regeneration, which will benefit the town centre and help ensure that the Torquay becomes an increasingly attractive place to invest, visit and live."

Nearly two years after permission was granted, work on the redevelopment is yet to get underway. It is now being marketed for sale by estate agents Bettesworths with an asking price of £650,000.

It comes after Richardson Hotels closed their Exmouth hotel The Royal Beacon in September due to a "tsunami of increased costs". The group also put The Abbey Sands Hotel up for sale in March, while The Falmouth Hotel was sold to The Cornwall Hotel Collection.