Bexhill town centre toilets re-open

The public toilets in Devonshire Square have now re-opened

At a meeting last Wednesday, Bexhill-on-Sea Town Council approved proposals to pay the costs associated with re-opening and operating the facility while negotiating a lease with Network Rail. The town council also agreed to take forward a lease for Channel View East toilets.

The Devonshire Square toilets were among those temporarily closed in November by Rother District Council due to an expected £3.8 million shortfall in its 2024/25 budget.

Cllr Doug Oliver, leader of Rother District Council said: “I’m delighted that Bexhill-on-sea Town Council has taken the decision to fund the running of these toilets for the good of the local community. I’d like to thank the town councillors and officers and we look forward to building on this extremely positive step to protect services in Bexhill.”

It was previously decided to close the toilets for a trial period, until March 2024. Elsewhere in the Rother district, public toilets remain closed in Rye and Sedlescombe with public consultations ongoing as to the future of public toilets across the district.

The move to close the Bexhill toilets was condemned by local residents Andrew Crotty and Stephen Pariser, who launched a petition in protest. It was signed by more than 1,800 people in protest and was handed to the council on November 28.

Mr Crotty condemned the move to close public toilets as a ‘health and safety nightmare’ and said it would lead to people urinating in public. He said: “People are saying this is killing the town and people won’t come here.”

But while the Devonshire Square toilets are now open, other public conveniences in Bexhill remain closed. These include the toilets at Cooden Sea Road; Little Common Roundabout; Manor Gardens, the Polegrove and Sidley.

Cllr Oliver said: “We need to focus our limited resources on protecting vital services. The town council has already raised £150,000 from local taxpayers to run the service in 2023/24, the district council has offered £218,000 of community infrastructure funding to support renovation works, and on top of that we’ve offered 99-125-year leases in line with toilet services already successfully devolved to other parishes.

“We have a duty to council taxpayers to get the best value for them - a fact now even more important as we face a budget shortfall next year of £3.8 million.”