Relief all round over toilets

It was feared nine Bexhill loos would be shut but six of them have been reprieved.

The three to go are at Buckhurst Place, Marina and The Down.

Rother District Council leader Graham Gubby denied any political u-turn.

It was feared nearly 30 public toilets across Rother could be lost if full council followed recent cabinet recommendations in the face of budget difficulties.

An amendment saw council agree to restricted cutbacks. More than 100 people, many of whom had protested outside the Town Hall, filled the council chamber.

Cllr Gubby said the threatened toilet closures were an initial recommendation by cabinet and nothing had been decided upon before the meeting.

He cited "a degree of misinformation and distortion of the facts ... and our intentions."

He said the amendment had been made due to the "very real interest and genuine desire for the council to continue to keep the majority of our public conveniences open."

Opposition politicians were quick to accuse the Conservative leader of an about-turn.

Cllr George Hearn said: "I am extremely pleased Cllr Gubby has decided to do a u -turn on this, though why didn't he make it clear before?

"Many people have spent their time doing petitions and coming along here when they could have spent their time doing something elsewhere."

Cllr Keith Bridger said: "The leader has said that people have distorted the facts. Well, if you say a toilet is going to be closed and people who get caught short find a chain across it and it is closed, it is not a distortion. Something is either closed or it's not."

Liberal Democrat leader Sue Prochak sought a vote of no confidence in the Rother leader suggesting he was "at the pinnacle of a stream of negative decisions and negative publicity."

Her request was rejected by the chairman as being out of order under Rother's constitution.

Cllr Deirdre Williams defended the change.