Torbay Council granted
a full repairing lease of Living Coast, Beacon Quay, Torquay to
South West Environmental Parks Ltd on a 125-year lease dated 25th
March 2003. The tenant is part of a group of companies ultimately
owned by a charitable trust called Wild Planet Trust, which
operates zoological assets.
In January 2025,
Torbay Council was contacted by Wild Planet Trust seeking agreement
to enter an Exclusivity Agreement with both parties and ARC Marine
Ltd to enable discussions to take place on the possibility of a sub
lease for part of the site. As drafted the 2003 lease does not
permit sub -letting of part of the property, other than to an
associated company of the tenant. Furthermore, there are
restrictions on the permitted use stated within the lease, limiting
the use to that of a zoological, botanical or environmental exhibit
space and uses ancillary to this. Consent from the Council to
permit a subletting and amend the permitted use is therefore
required in this regard.
Under the terms of the
proposed sub lease responsibility for the site will remain with
Wild Planet Trust. Discussions have been on-going, and the parties
have reached a workable solution that will enable a sub-lease for
10 years to be granted to ARC Marine, to use the space for
operating its ecological engineering business with a further option
of an additional 10 years. This will see a proportion of the
building invested in and brought back into beneficial use for the
foreseeable future.
A key consideration
for the Council, prior to giving its consent to the proposal, as
head landlord was to ensure the sublease does not fetter the
ability to re-develop the remaining areas of the site. To this end,
regular mutual lease break options have been drafted into the
agreement along with the Council’s ability to enter and
survey the building, plant and equipment contained within to allow
any development proposal, either generated by Torbay Council or
Wild Planet Trust, or submitted by a third party to Wild Planet
Trust to Torbay Council, for the redevelopment of the part of the
site not occupied by ARC Marine to be facilitated appraised or
assessed.
