A year of town centre safety successes

Residents in Paignton should be enjoying a more peaceful start to the new year after a noisy neighbour was ordered to leave his flat.

The courts granted a closure order on the Paignton premises following weeks of evidence-building by our Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) team.

The ASB team acted after a series of complaints from neighbours that the tenant was playing music at excessively high levels. He also showed threatening behaviour towards other residents.

The successful outcome was just one of many achieved in 2025 by the team and other teams at the council, who have worked alongside neighbourhood policing teams to keep the Bay’s town centres safer.

The work is part of Operation Town Centres, agreed in the budget and set up by the council administration in 2024.

Another successful legal action included a prosecution which resulted in the forfeiture of a dog. The owner received an order banning her from keeping further dogs. This was due to the defendant using the pet as a weapon in Torquay town centre.

During the year, town centre officers issued 44 community protection warnings (CPWs) and 23 community protection notices (CPNs). These are powers that allow the council to challenge ASB. A warning precedes a notice which is then enforceable if it’s not complied with.

There were five successful prosecutions for breaches of CPNs. Criminal behaviour orders were obtained following these court actions.

There was renewed use of PSPOs throughout 2025. One PSPO restricts the consumption of alcohol in the town centre areas of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham and the other enables the dispersal from a specific area within Torquay town centre for ASB.

There were 217 requests to surrender alcohol in Torquay and 26 in Paignton; there were 32 dispersals in Torquay.

Three successful prosecutions have been completed for breaches of PSPOs during the year.

No prosecutions have been unsuccessful.

The year saw a continued high-visibility uniformed presence with an increase in town centre officers. The team has increased to six officers and now works six days a week from 8am to 6pm across Torquay and Paignton.

Hotspot patrols by town centre officers and street marshals are carried out on various nights – until midnight in Paignton and 10pm in Torquay. 

Compared to the same period in 2024, CCTV operators reported:

• a 56% decrease in incidents of begging in Torquay town centre
• a 26% decrease in incidents of aggressive behaviour in Torquay town centre

Council and SWISCo staff have also completed Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) training from Devon and Cornwall Police which means they are granted limited powers to tackle ASB. They are awaiting formal accreditation.

We continue to work closely with neighbourhood policing teams. We have leased an empty shop in Union Street, Torquay, to Torquay Police so they can run a monthly pop-up police shop.

David Thomas, Leader of Torbay Council, said: “Well done to our teams for gathering crucial evidence to ensure successful prosecutions. It can sometimes take a long time to get results, but the hard work pays off in the end.

“We are receiving positive feedback about our work in the town centres.

“Our ASB team works closely with our town centre officers – whose consistent uniformed presence regularly wins them praise – and our CCTV operators, another key part of the jigsaw of maintaining safety on our streets.

“We also want to ensure retail businesses thrive and feel protected – so I’d encourage them to join up to the UKPAC scheme, a useful reporting tool which has seen a number of positive results locally, and has been initially funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).

“I’m also pleased to see the work that’s been done to help keep residents and visitors safe in our night-time economy.

“We’ve increased taxi marshals in Torquay and Paignton and encouraged people to download the Travel Guardian app to stay safe when they’re out in the evening.

“It’s also encouraging that Stagecoach is continuing the night bus service on the number 12 route until at least April thanks to OPCC funding."