Plans for a major expansion of Brixham’s fishing port have taken another significant step forward.
A formal planning application has been lodged for the expansion, which is the ‘fish’ part of the bay’s £20million ‘fish and chips’ government cash handout.
The ‘chips’ section has also just moved forward, with a building in the micro-electronics cluster in Paignton soon to be leased out.
But the Brixham port expansion has already attracted criticism.
One local, with a home neighbouring the site, said it would turn the waterside area at Oxen Cove into an ‘industrial estate’ and would create traffic and parking problems for the port.
The objector says noise and smell issues from the fish processing area will get worse, traffic will be trapped in a narrow access road, the town will lose valuable parking spaces and the local yacht club’s activities will be ‘severely curtailed’ as it loses its boat storage area.
The application is for the demolition of existing buildings, the removal of a public car park and the construction of two shellfish and fish processing buildings.
Filed by the council itself along with development partners Willmott Dixon, the application says: “The redevelopment of Oxen Cove Car Park will support and enable the expansion of the existing fish market and its associated supporting industries which in recent years has proven hugely successful and elevated Brixham to the highest-value and most successful fishing port in England and Wales.
“It will see increased employment opportunities and income generation. It will provide support space for existing marine businesses and provide new space for incoming businesses.
“The development will provide high quality units which will enhance the site appearance and complete the original vision for expansion of the fish market building on Brixham’s commercial successes.”
Earlier this year the council’s cabinet rubber-stamped the timescales and budgets for the Brixham expansion, hearing that the value of catches being landed in the port had more than doubled since 2020.
“Our fishing industry puts Torbay on the map,” said Cllr Chris Lewis (Con, Preston).
The new units at Oxen Cove, on land which was reclaimed for development in the 1990s, will create 40 new jobs. Building could begin in January with the first businesses operating by the beginning of 2028.
Six local companies have already confirmed their interest in moving into the new units.
The project is being funded with £9.8million from the government’s Levelling Up Fund, plus £4.2million borrowed from the Public Works Loan Board. In Paignton, the council is spending around £6.5million to buy the unit at the Westfield Business Park off Long Road.
Cllr Darren Cowell (Ind, Shiphay) told the cabinet meeting: “It is absolutely essential that we invest in our fishing industry and high-tech sector. These are the right things for the bay, the right things for Brixham and Paignton and the wider economy of Torbay.”
During the same meeting council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) said it had taken years of hard work to reach this stage.
“Isn’t it fantastic when a plan comes together?” he said. “We first spoke about fish and chips so many years ago, and now it is absolutely marvellous to see them coming together.”
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Brixham Port Expansion Plans Submitted for Approval