PLANS for the new Torbay Business Centre in the heart of Torquay are quite striking.

They show a four-storey building in the Lymington Road car park and, although no specific occupiers have been lined up, the potential is there for the centre to host 600 new jobs.

It is not a pretty building by any stretch of the imagination, and there are sure to be those who will object to the brutal bulk of it, but it could yet prove to be a jewel in the crown for the town.

An empty building will not, on its own, attract the new businesses Torbay craves, and the centre of Torquay needs desperately if it is to climb out of its current slump.

One only has to look at the beautifully landscaped White Rock Business Park, with its dedicated roundabouts and pristine bus stops, to see just how forlorn a new development can look when it is all built and opened, and yet no-one has the means to move in.

But the Torbay Business Centre could be very different.

Given a speedy passage through planning and the right investment at the right time, it may just catch the beginning of the recovery, and then its boldness and bulk might be a price worth paying for the jobs and prosperity it brings.

THE saga of the Hope Cover rescue boat shows no signs of concluding.

The Marine Coastguard Agency wants to axe the boat, while local seafarers and landlubbers alike have mounted a ferocious campaign to save it.

At a public meeting, the calls to preserve the service were strident, with warnings that lives will be lost if the boat is taken away.

This is an extremely difficult situation, with the MCA on the horns of a dilemma.

If they leave the boat where it is, there are cost implications and the assertion that the craft is not fit for the purpose to which it is being put. If they take it away, there are dire warnings that a tragedy could result from the lack of cover.

The decision is difficult, but surely they should err on the side of safety?