At our Cabinet meeting being held at 5.30pm on Tuesday 15 June, Members will be asked to consider a report that recommends ‘The Oldway Trust’ as our primary community partner in respect of Oldway Mansion, the estate and gardens.  

Since 2017 we have worked with and supported a number of volunteer groups who have made high-profile positive changes to the much-loved local site. Through this work it has become clear that it would be helpful to identify a primary community partner who we can collaborate and consult with when seeking advice and funding support.  

Under the proposed new partnership, we will continue to lead on the repair, restoration and redevelopment of Oldway Mansion, the wider estate and gardens but will have a more formal mechanism for matters that secure the future of Oldway.  

The Oldway Trust have already entered into a specific memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the council, which allows the Trustees to have access to the main mansion buildings. A further MOU will be implemented if Cabinet agree to accept the Oldway Trust as the council’s primary community partner for Oldway Mansion.  

One of the key pieces of work for the Oldway Trust a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), which is registered with the Charities Commission, would be to work with us to submit an Expression of Interest application in the region of £100,000 to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) - Resilience Fund. A successful funding application, along with a £30,000 contribution from us would allow for the council and the Oldway Trust to develop longer term restoration plans for the site before submitting a full capital bid to NLHF in late 2022.  

Councillor Darren Cowell, Deputy Leader of Torbay Council and Chair of Oldway Working Party said:

“We want to be a council that supports, enables and empowers its residents, our communities and our partnerships. Our community partnership work at Oldway is a fantastic example of how we are achieving this vision, the new partnership will improve on the work already started to bring Oldway back to its former glory.  

Councillor Swithin Long, Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration, Tourism and Housing, said; “The Oldway Trust would continue to work with the ‘Friends of Oldway’ and ‘Oldway Gardens Volunteer Group who have both been instrumental is maintaining the gardens, and successfully crowdfunding to be able to reopen and run the Tea Rooms. Currently the three volunteer groups collaborate and co-operate with each other in the best interests of Oldway and I fully expect that this will continue but it is equally important that the council identifies a primary partner.”

Read more about this report and other reports on the agenda on the website.