Paignton Zoo: A Local Treasure Undermined by Years of Government Neglect

Reform UK Torbay is deeply saddened to learn of the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust's decision to enter voluntary liquidation on 31st October 2025. For 26 years, this vital organisation has stewarded over 1,700 acres of our cherished green spaces, including beloved sites like Occombe Farm - true crown jewels of our region. This closure not only jeopardises key conservation efforts but also puts 70 dedicated staff at risk, all amid escalating financial pressures from rising costs, maintenance demands and revenue shortfalls exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the inflationary surge since 2022.

How Reform UK will make a difference

Charlie Kirk’s death this week should awaken everyone to the dangers of smearing people with unfounded names. This has become a hallmark of leftwing politicians and mainstream political commentators. Terms like ‘fascist’, ‘Nazi’, ‘Racist’ and ‘Far-right’ have been repeatedly and purposefully used to try to silence voices that are in opposition to the established narrative. This strategy has now culminated in a less than stable individual assassinating a conservative voice. The political left and the mainstream commentators that have contributed to this smear narrative must shoulder much of the blame. It is utterly despicable that they continue with these slurs even after the event. In the era of the ‘online safety act’ and diminished freedom of speech in this country, it is ironic that the ‘hate’ speech that has directly led to violence in the world, the perpetual nazi, fascist, racist, far right insults is the one that remains unaffected. It is time that we called out this orchestrated smear campaign for what it is; an intentional attempt to restrict the freedom of speech of the peoples in western nations. Combined with recent legislation, this is a concerted attempt to cling on to power by restricting contrary voices that echoes experiences of communist Russia and Nazi Germany. This hateful campaign propagated by a failing political elite demonstrates one thing; that they have lost the debate. Charlie Kirk was a pioneer at pushing back against the lies of the left. They didn’t hate him because he argued with them, because he didn’t. Charlie Kirk simply put out the truth and then strongly defended it. This is why they hated him, because he showed that they were wrong. If you haven’t already sought out some of the clips of Charlie Kirk, I strongly suggest that you do. As Chairman of Reform Torbay, I believe that I speak for everyone involved with the branch, that we were deeply saddened by Charlie’s death. I hope you will join with me in praying for the dear family that he has left behind. We will continue in Charlie’s footsteps by putting the truth out there and standing strongly behind it!

Recent news suggests Torbay Council has an extra £350,000 to spend. They want to use it on a Christmas ice rink, a council newspaper and a bay spruce up. Reform UK Torbay strongly believes this money must tackle bigger problems instead. We are determined to make public servants use your tax money wisely. They have a duty to give you the best value for every pound. Reform UK will fight to make that happen and here suggests some better uses for your money. Torbay has a bad drug problem. Every year, 13.6 out of 100,000 people die from drugs here - twice the national average. Addiction hurts families and costs us all in crime and health bills. The council must stop wasting money and start saving lives. Reform UK would use some of the £350,000 for more drug treatment programs. This is the smart way to help people and cut bigger costs later.

Reform UK Torbay stands for practical solutions that put our community first. The £4.6 million sea wall upgrades for Preston and Paignton, approved by Torbay Council on June 24, 2024, focus on rising sea levels tied to Net Zero climate goals. We believe this misses the mark. Torbay’s real problem is flooding from heavy rain due to poor drainage, not unproven sea level rise. The UK’s flood risk tool shows Torbay’s biggest threat is surface water flooding, putting over 350 properties at risk. Fixing drainage systems would help these homes and businesses faster and likely cost less than the £4.6 million sea wall project. Funded by the Environment Agency, local developers, and the Future High Streets Fund, this money could be better spent on what we know works. Higher sea walls might even make flooding worse by trapping rainwater in low-lying areas. This could harm the very homes and businesses the project aims to protect. Reform UK Torbay urges the council to focus on drainage upgrades instead, tackling the clear cause of flooding head-on. Set to start in September 2025 and finish by May 2027, the sea wall project followed years of consultations. While public input shaped some changes, the plan still leans on shaky sea level rise predictions rather than local flood data. We think Torbay’s money should solve real problems, like saving our hospital’s heart services or fighting crime, not chasing Net Zero maybes. Reform UK Torbay calls for a rethink. Let’s redirect funds to fix drainage and protect our community now. Practical solutions, not climate guesses, will keep Torbay safe.

Reform UK Torbay sent the letter below demanding the cancellation to Devon’s Emergency Cardiac Care Merger Plan to prevent unnecessary loss of life. We are delighted that the Directors at the Integrated Care Board have now decided to cancel their plans. We believe that as the decision was made very soon after this letter was received that we could have been instrumental in their decision.

The NHS Devon Integrated Care Board’s decision to explore consolidating emergency cardiac services through a “test and learn” process leans heavily on the 2016 “Bigger, Better, Faster?” report by the South West Cardiovascular Strategic Clinical Network. This nine-year-old study, to which we have only been given access to an executive summary, suggests reducing Heart Attack Centres from ten to six or seven across the South West. While it claims marginal clinical impacts, it explicitly acknowledges “geographical inequity” for Torbay, where residents face longer travel times for life-saving interventions like Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (pPCI). This admission of adverse effects on Torbay’s access to emergency care raises serious questions about the report’s suitability as the foundation for such a critical decision. Torbay, with its higher-than-average prevalence of coronary heart disease, cannot afford to be sidelined by outdated evidence. The 2016 report’s failure to account for recent data, like the 2023/24 Torbay Joint Strategic Needs Assessment showing a 4.1% coronary heart disease rate against a 3.0% national average, underscores its obsolescence. Furthermore, the report’s own modelling highlights that consolidating services would disproportionately burden Torbay, increasing travel times by up to 28 minutes for emergency care. Relying on this aging study, which lacks transparency and fails to address current clinical realities, risks compromising patient safety and exacerbating health inequalities in an already vulnerable region. Basing a decision with such profound implications on a nine-year-old study that concedes harm to Torbay is simply not good enough. The NHS Devon Board must prioritize current, robust data and transparent public engagement to ensure decisions align with the Nolan Principles of objectivity and accountability. Torbay’s residents, who rely on the exceptional performance of their local emergency cardiac unit - ranked fifth nationally compared to Exeter’s 56th - deserve a process that values their lives over bureaucratic expediency. The board must reconsider this flawed approach and demand up-to-date evidence to protect, not undermine, the health of Torbay’s community.

The grooming gang scandal has left an indelible mark on the UK, with towns like Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford exposing horrific cases of child sexual exploitation, often perpetrated by groups from specific ethnic backgrounds. These crimes met with delayed responses from authorities who feared accusations of racism, a hesitation that critics argue was exacerbated by the Equality Act 2010. This legislation, they contend, fostered a culture of caution that undermined justice by prioritizing the protection of group identities over the enforcement of the law. What follows is an exploration of how this act may have contributed to the scandal, alongside a case for its repeal, advocating a return to the principle of equality before the law to prevent such failures in the future. Enacted in 2010, the Equality Act consolidated the UK’s anti-discrimination laws into a single framework, protecting individuals from unfair treatment based on nine "protected characteristics," such as race, religion, and sex. It also introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty, which mandates public bodies to eliminate discrimination and promote good relations between different groups, aiming to ensure fairness across society. Yet, this emphasis on group protections has sparked controversy. Some assert that it created an environment where authorities hesitated to enforce the law, particularly when dealing with minority communities, out of fear of appearing biased. The grooming gang cases starkly illustrate this tension. In these incidents, organized groups of specific ethnic backgrounds exploited vulnerable young girls over years. Professor Alexis Jay’s 2014 report into Rotherham revealed that over 1,400 children were abused between 1997 and 2013, with authorities often aware of the crimes but reluctant to act. The report highlighted a chilling detail: staff avoided identifying the perpetrators’ ethnic origins, citing concerns about being labelled racist. This pattern of inaction repeated across multiple towns, pointing to a systemic failure widely attributed to a fear of breaching cultural sensitivities—a fear some tie directly to the Equality Act’s influence. At the core of this critique lies the Public Sector Equality Duty, which requires public bodies to "foster good relations" and eliminate discrimination. In practice, this may have discouraged decisive action against minority perpetrators in the grooming gang cases. Police and social services reportedly shied away from thorough investigations, wary of accusations of racial or religious prejudice, allowing crimes to persist unchecked. Critics argue that the act’s focus on group identity, rather than individual accountability, distorted the legal landscape, fostering a form of "reverse discrimination." By protecting certain communities from perceived bias, it led to an unequal application of the law, leaving victims without the justice they deserved. Yet, defenders of the Equality Act maintain that it remains a vital tool for safeguarding vulnerable groups from discrimination. They argue that the grooming gang scandal resulted from failures in policing and social services, not from the legislation itself. The law, they insist, is designed to prevent unfair treatment, not to shield criminals, and repealing it could weaken protections for minorities while unravelling decades of progress in areas like disability access and gender equity. Despite these defences, the argument for repeal gains traction. Critics contend that the Equality Act has shifted the UK away from the foundational principle of equality before the law, where individuals are judged solely on their actions, not their group affiliation. In the grooming gang scandal, this shift paralyzed authorities, enabling predators to exploit the system. Repealing the act and restoring equal treatment under the law would empower police and courts to act without fear of discrimination claims, refocusing justice on individual responsibility. Crimes could then be prosecuted regardless of the perpetrator’s background, ensuring a system that prioritizes victims over bureaucratic hesitation. This approach would not abandon anti-discrimination efforts but would streamline them into a clearer, less cumbersome framework. The grooming gang scandal laid bare a devastating flaw in the UK’s justice system: a fear of enforcing the law impartially, fuelled in part by the Equality Act 2010. While the act was intended to promote fairness, its emphasis on group protections has been exploited, leaving vulnerable children unprotected. Repealing it and returning to the principle of equality before the law offers a way forward - a path where justice is blind to race, religion, or status, and where future crimes can be prevented through fearless, impartial action. The time has come to place victims above political correctness and reaffirm that no one stands above the law.

Torbay, 30 May 2025 — Reform UK is calling for immediate public mobilisation following revelations at a well-attended public meeting on Thursday 29th May at The Imperial Hotel Torquay, hosted by the Torquay Chamber of Commerce. The meeting, which drew approximately 75 concerned citizens — including GPs, cardiac specialists, hospital trustees, journalists and local community figures — exposed deeply worrying plans to remove all emergency cardiac care from Torbay Hospital. The meeting featured a powerful address by Consultant Cardiologist Lisa Yung, who warned that Torbay’s emergency coronary services are at imminent risk of being moved to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (RDE). If implemented, this would mean that anyone in South Devon experiencing a heart attack and dialling 999 would be transported directly to Exeter — bypassing Torbay entirely.