Two public toilets in Portslade and Hove are to close despite efforts to lessen budget cuts, with a swathe of other city loos set to close over the winter.
In February, councillors decided to rethink plans to slash £170,000 from the public toilet budget, which would have seen loos at the Rotunda in Preston Park, Saltdean Oval and Park Road in Rottingdean closed down.
But the cuts could not be completely avoided, and with a revised £40,000 left to save, the Grenadier toilets in Hove and Victoria Road toilets in Portslade are still for the chop, with Aldrington Rec, Blakers Park, Greenleas and Hollingbury Park loos now closed over winter.
The toilets in Goldstone Villas will also have their opening hours reduced by two hours a day over summer and winter. The changes will take place from Saturday, 4 June.
Councillor Gill Mitchell, chair of the environment committee, explained: “The current budget pressures meant that closing some toilets was always inevitable. However, I am pleased that officers have worked hard to find ways to keep the vast majority of facilities open. This includes the toilets at Saltdean Oval, Preston Park and Rottingdean which were previously earmarked for closure.
“The decision to fully close the toilets at the Grenadier and Victoria Road in Portslade, and to close those in Blakers Park, Greenleas, Hollingbury Park and Aldrington Recreation Ground over the winter months was made following a detailed review of all facilities in the city. The review looked at usage and the proximity of other toilet facilities.
“We appreciate that some residents will be disappointed, but these changes are essential to put the service on a sound footing for the future and we can now move forward with plans to invest £1.5 million in the total refurbishment of some city facilities.”
So much of ‘living wage’ – there is no extra money, so there are fewer hours… pathetic.
Urinals are cheap – but presumably Brighton think they are sexist and need unisex, disabled access everywhere…
Idiot lefty councillors say ‘equal access to toilets’ – whch means no access for many.
So then portslade station going to provide toilets then or do you make coffee shops in boundary open to the public and not just for customers
I think the article is a bit misleading by showing picture of the toilets at Portslade Station which, as far as I recall, will NOT be closing.
Disgraceful. You really couldn’t blame people if they decided to just let it all go in the street.
Why not charge for these facilities, and make them self-funding ?
It used to be ‘spend a penny’, but they could easily get away with ‘spend a £1’ now.
It’s ok …. there an out of sight corner just by Portslade Station where one can urinate on the pavement ….. so no problem.
It’s a bit Third World but think of it as just part of Austerity … not much danger of spreading disease as long as not too many people deposit solid human waste.
Being a bus driver toilets are an absolute need we are often driving for 4 hours and in that time I’m sure most of the drivers must go.
I have sometimes wondered why another use has not been made of those closed long ago by the railway bridge on Sackville Road (which was a strange place to have them).
Perhaps it could be used as an extension for Hove Library instead of moving services to the Hove Museum Site? 😉
Why do these loos have to close , surely they could be kept open with say a £1 charge to use them ? Or why not franchise then out to a third party and let them run then subject to minimum standards for a profit ?
Surely our creativity can extend to solving this without closing a facility that already exists and leaving us with nothing ! It’s so exasperating to close something which lets be honest can hardly cost anything to keep open ( I know the council will come up with some amazingly large number as the cost to keep it open but we all know that it cannot cost more than c£10k a year in the real world )
Toilets; it’s a dirty word, and a dirty thing, but I remain confident that filthy stinking public toilets will always be available for the general public to use
Its the ones behind the town hall that are closing, and use the ones inside when its open much nicer anyway!
I do hope that the disabled toilet opposite the top of George Street in Hove dose not disappear because I have to rely on it because I am severely disabled and as the two supermarkets do not have toilets available I need this one badly please do not take it away thank you
Post Office has gone, Hove Library to go and now the toilet? What will be left in Hove?