Nick Bye won't be Dave R's MP

Reading the on line comments of the HE website Barton, it seems most want him to quit and not do the 18 months he has left. I do not know how many people from Paignton were able to vote, I would love to know how many voted for him.

I voted for an elected mayor and due to a change by the government we are stuck with this system until 2019. I still believe with the right man it can work and we can see the improvements we want for the Bay.

I do not know how it could be done, or if it would be allowed, but unlike the last time, we need to see a big reduction in those who can be voted for. I believe the number last time was 16? this meant because far to many people did not vote, the votes that were cast were spread far to thinly.

We need to have a final five only candidates to vote for and then maybe we will get the right man for the job.

The Times carries a good feature penned by Nick Bye today in which he reveals that he realises that many politicians like himself have been seen through by more of the electorate than was formerly the case and yet he goes on to reveal that he himself is typical of the "professional politician" so lacking scruples and ethics that he has now attempted to get into Parliament in two different constituencies under two different (Lib Dem in Torbay and Conservative in Totnes) political banners......................so much for the courage of his convictions eh?

Personally I think the role of Executive Mayor should always be filled by a professional Chief Executive rather than a political figure in fact I'd go as far as to ban party politics from the hustings for Executive Mayors in the interests of continuity, non ambiguity and pure professionalism.

Just as in professional football, constant chopping and changing achieves nothing but duplicity of waste of precious financial resources and a lack of direction.

Democratically elect a dictator ~ you know it makes sense!

Did the guy not stand for mayor under a political banner though? Perhaps he didn't ~ I wouldn't know, but he sure has nailed his colours to a party now and he did to another party in the past; so to complain that a politician gets involved in politics is like complaining that a vicar preaches religion.

Warring political paries and self interest will ruin any local economy and Torbay is a prime example of that but is certainly not alone in that category.

In London we have democratically elected a buffoon who cannot apply his mind to anything of detail but airy fairily waffles on each and every subject under the sun; begins to dismantle long term traffic measures, public transport initiatives and intends to bring in ill thought out policies that will use up more precious finances. That he doesn't intend to hang about as Mayor of London for long is transparently obvious and it will be for his successor to once again call a u turn to his policies and yet again need to commit even more money.

Boris can't even make a simple appointment like Deputy Mayor (he's had four have to resign in his first year) without making a pig's ear of it.....................a lovely guy and an engaging character yes but in reality he was only elected because he plainly WASN'T Ken Livingstone by the more privileged and affluent members of society in this city; people who in reality only wanted to protect their own lifestyle and so a public school educated Tory son of a millionaire fits the bill nicely. I mean what interest do "they" have in Livingstone's record on public and affordable housing, how much do they care that the disabled friendly "Bendy Bus" is about to be replaced by a modern day version of the bloody Routemaster for God's sake?

I mean Boris hasn't even got the common sense to put a helmet on his stupid head when he runs red traffic lights on his push bike.................Idiot with a capital "Aye" if you ask me.

So just what would Dave R the mayor of Torbay do for the Bay?

He would be looking to make Torbay a place of welcome, turning it into a thriving resort and a place everyone would want to come too. He also would improve the quality of life for all the Bays residents.

So how would I do that?

We have seem the Bay grow, seem so many new houses built here, all having to pay council tax and we have all seem our bills rise and rise way about the rate of inflation. Yet all we have ever heard is about the lack of money, how this or that has to be cut back etc.

Where is all the money going too then? Well we have seen job title after job title created in the town hall, each new job created has a deputy and an assistant deputy, yet when a report is needed, consultants are called in. After all that nothing gets done as a result of it all. We were told we were paying peanuts and getting monkeys, now we are paying over the top wages and still have monkeys.

My first job would to rid the council of all the posts that are unnecessary, employ people only who know the job that is required of them. For each job I get rid of at say one and fifty grand a year, I will employ ten good workers and set them to work cleaning up the bay.

No more jollies, no more over the top expensive claims, no more consultants’ fees. There really is major savings that can be made in the town hall alone.

I tell you what’s wrong with Torquay; they built the town some distance from the main beach. Look at Teignmouth just for a start, a nice beach, great green space behind it and the town centre just behind that. Torquay has one main street really that goes from Torre down to the harbour. What is on the seafront other than an ugly balloon.

Our shops in the town have less and less people even walking past them, on street meters, over the top car park charges and the NCP are a big part of the reason. It says a lot about the town centres when so many locals like me, won’t ever go to them.

Let’s start with the seafront, a beach with a bloody big road beside it separating a large green from it. Here’s the plan, divert the road to the back of the green, move the green up to the beach. Build what buildings were necessary to turn the whole area into a proper beach resort. That could include continental style cafes, play areas for the children (like the Teignmouth one)

Move the cricket club and even the rec if necessary (yes I said the rec merse) builds a large car park there. Charge a fair price for an all day ticket, this ticket would also include a return trip on the land train, so the visitors could spend part of the day looking around the town centre shops.

Make sure the Bay is shining like a button, clean streets, everything painted up nicely and plenty of bins and clean decent public toilets.

I have other plans for our visitors, but for now I will look to see what I can do for the residents. Firstly encourage them into the town centres by offering fair car park charges, get rid of the meters on Paington seafront, its only locals who have to pay to park there anyway as its closed for cars in the summer.

Get all local football pitches as level as possible, build decent and clean changing rooms for the players to use. Ensure there were decent sports facilities for all the sports that are played in the Bay. The locals would be happy that the whole Bay looked clean and well kept. I have more plans for the locals as well, but this will do to get on with.

Because it won't happen in the Bay, the days of Nortel are long gone, who would set up a factory in the Bay, when you have the M5 and A38 with all the good transport links they have.

Time to face facts and accept that tourism is now our only real future in the jobs market.

In one post you underline why a "local perspective", and a local perspective only; condemns your area to an ever declining future "underpinned" ~ or should I say in servitude to? ~ a declining "industry" that neither knows just what end of the economic market it wants to aim it's pitch at or in reality pays it's employees anything like a sustainable wage...................wages that would provide anywhere near the spending levels required to re-ignite the local retail scene that is imploding at such a rate that it too is contributing to the ever downward spiral that has made Torbay unattractive to significant numbers of visitors who now opt to go elsewhere.

In recessionary times like these, the number of people who CAN still afford to come away on holiday has spectacularly diminished, so what else is there to contribute to the local economy? and do you seriously believe there is ONE British "holiday" resort that is not smaller or even more declined than Torbay that your area can seek to emulate?

I would respectfully suggest that only Blackpool of the bigger resorts has anywhere near the sole reliance on tourism as it's main income and at least Blackpool has made it's mind up and pitched towards the lower end of the market, which given the demography and location of the place has proved to be a very astute decision based over many years of attracting hoards of uncouth and unwashed Northerners! (THAT is a joke Dave)

That surely leaves the "Nick Bye Mayoral Vision for Torbay" with far more practicality than you give it credit for Dave.

Attracting the "Grey Pound" with soporific attractions like Oldway, The Model Village and Cockington is alright to a point, but when the wholesale and unseemly chase for their accomodation needs by the local hotel trade results in FIVE major conferences turning their back on the Bay because the only hotels big enough to accomodate ALL the delegates under one roof cannot survice their needs due to the enthusiasm for the "Send A Granny" Away brigade; then further reason for the rapid decline in spending power of the visitor becomes apparent.

In short, if Torbay wants to look like Monte Carlo it damn well has to think like Monte Carlo, not Frinton On Sea, and certainly not Blackpool!

But to be honest, Barty's suggestion carries far more gravitas than putting bins out and kicking out NCP....................cultivate a nicely presentable daytime sea front area by all means but encourage a more vibrant and sustainable "cafe, restaurant and leisure culture" by making the area more desirable and a realistic property investment area for those who's personal wealth will sustain that sort of person whilst they are here. These are the sort of people who frequent casinos Dave rather than amusement arcades. They buy top of the range retail and fashion rather than frequent pound stores and charity shops; and they come out at night and spend their money in proper night clubs in preference to rubbing shoulders with the local Oiks in a raucous harbourside dive being jostled by idiot "hens" in deely boppers and violently vomitting thicko males bellowing "Rowvurrs 'til I doiy" and looking for a fight with any "Aaaaaaaaaaargul" knuckle 'eads who happened to find the missing brain cell that allowed them to navigate themselves to somewhere that has electric lighting and hot running water for once in their lives.

Bournemouth has realised this with it's swathes of top of the range developments in Sandbanks, Brighton has cultivated it's "City By The Sea" and marina image, Torbay (in my opinion) has rolled over and gone to sleep and counted on it's superior natural beauty ~ but not beautiful enough to attract the London Second Home Set who have created "Notting Hill On Sea" around Padstow and "Solent West" around Salcombe and you guys have ended up with "Fick Fred Frum Plymuff and his Gran and Granfur" who haven't got two halfpenies to rub together and generate the unholy alliance of the under educated and the underfunded and keep the real spenders out.......................only the opinion and viewpoint of an outsider you understand, but it's outsiders who you need to bring the money in, and it's high tech and "intelectual" employment you need so desperately (employment that doesn't depend on logistics but technology) to raise the local earning aspirations above the minimum .