Three public toilets will stay closed because of “significant issues”, according to an update report to councillors, but four are due to reopen after upgrades at the start of next month.
The update follows controversy over plans by Brighton and Hove City Council to close 18 public toilets in parks and on the seafront.
The council overturned those plans but said that toilets would stay shut at The Level and Prince’s Place, by Pavilion Gardens, in Brighton, and at the car park in Norton Road, Hove.
They would not be able to reopen until continuing problems had been resolved, according to the report to the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee.
The two Brighton toilets were closed because of damage including “mysterious leaks” affecting the toilets at The Level.
The toilets at The Level have been affected by “significant issues” since July 2021, having opened as part of a £1 million café building in 2013.
It was initially known as the Velo café and operated by the coffee chain Small Batch. It has since gone through various incarnations – as Tomato Dolce and Salato – before becoming The Level Café which ceased trading in 2021.
Drainage problems started during construction of the skate park when the Victorian aquifer was damaged, resulting in flooding.
Work to resolve the problem has included planting trees and installing seven soakaways for water running down from Ditchling Road.
The toilets at Norton Road closed in April last year and still require “significant repairs”, the report said.
Funding to keep public toilets open was agreed at the council’s annual budget meeting last month, along with a further £1.1 million to refurbish existing toilets.
The council now needs to recruit permanent and seasonal staff – and the report said: “Sites, including the recently refurbished sites, will be reopening, but the dates are dependent on recruitment and the ability to fill the additional posts.
“Seasonal staff are required in the summer due to the longer opening hours. In winter, the shorter opening hours mean each toilet site can be opened, closed and maintained within one shift.
“In the summer months, the longer hours mean two shifts are required to open, clean and maintain each toilet site.”
The council is also recruiting a programme manager for two years to appraise each site and determine the most viable options.
Refurbished toilets due to come back into use next month are
- Dalton’s Bastion, on the lower promenade near the zip wire, in Brighton, which will have more women’s cubicles, family rooms with changing tables and child toilets, and a “Changing Places” toilet in both the men’s and women’s toilets.
- King’s Esplanade, Hove, which will have more women’s cubicles and family rooms in the men’s and women’s toilets.
- Saltdean Undercliff, which will have more cubicles in both the men’s and women’s toilets, family rooms in both facilities and more urinals in the men’s toilets.
- Station Road, Portslade, which will have more women’s cubicles – and changing tables in cubicles in both the men’s and women’s toilets.
…
The Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm next Tuesday (14 March). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
Bhcc needs to get its finger out – the Pavilion Gardens toilets
should be a priority to be up and running for the summer. The Council is just weak-willed and inept.
And you can bet the webcast will mysteriously crash as soon as someone starts asking awkward questions.
Lies and missleading babble. They have time to fix these things but won’t.
I can’t wait till the next election.
More excuses. I’m surprised they haven’t blamed cuts from central Govt. – they usually do.
They are toilets – not the Space Shuttle – get on with your job and fix and open them.
I would suggest our councillors have a nice cup of tea and then try and go for a walk after work. They might then find out how life is for most of us residents. Perhaps tell us how far you can walk before you need a loo?
If, after my work, I walk along the seafront from Hove to the Palace pier there are no toilets open after 4pm and you often find they are shut at 3.45pm.
Some of the seafront toilets are permanently closed anyway, due to refurbishment or because of some technical issue.
It is of course light now until 6pm but the winter opening hours for public loos (officially 9am-4pm) don’t change to the slightly later summer times until Easter.
According to the council website, the Shelter Hall toilets are supposed to be open until 6pm even in winter, but I passed there at 5.50pm the other day and they were already locked. I’m usually an hour into my walk by this stage.
Your next option is the toilets on the Pier – privately run of course – and they are only open until 7pm during the week if that’s when the pier closes.
Similarly, if you walk through the city centre, or along Valley Gardens towards the Level and on towards the universities, there are no toilets open, even during the day time.
Perhaps if you are cycling you can get further and faster. But I hear the toilets are now closed in Stanmer Park. What do the dog walkers do when there?
Indeed, most of the toilets in our parks are now closed. How are families supposed to deal with that when your kid needs a wee?
And so much for healthy exercise and active travel.
No more excuses please. These toilets are part of basic council services – for local tax payers and visitors to the city. If the limited loos at the Level can’t be fixed then it’s fundamental that the last remaining city centre toilets at the Pavilion Gardens be re-opened.
Fix it… I am sure there are local plumbers and drainers wo will happily help out.