Changes proposed to Sidmouth's public loos as part of district-wide review

Changes to Sidmouth's public toilets are on the cards as part of an East Devon-wide review by the district council.

In Sidmouth, the possibilities include selling the Market Place toilet block, and building new toilets at the Ham.

The Triangle looks set to be retained as a 'key toilet site' but the facilities could be developed to include a café.

The Connaught Gardens toilets will also stay, but the council is looking at introducing charges for using some of its public conveniences, and these are among them.

It's proposed that the toilets at Long Park and Sidford Cross, which are maintained but not owned by the district council, should be transferred to Sidmouth Town Council.

Overall, the council is looking to reduce the number of its toilet blocks across the district to 14 – but wants those facilities to be of high quality with good access and high standards of cleanliness and hygiene, in keeping with Covid precautions.

East Devon District Council's Cabinet discussed the various options on Wednesday, May 12 - and voted unanimously that, if charges for using public toilets were introduced, concession cards should be provided for people needing to use them more frequently, for medical reasons.

The chairman of Sidmouth Town Council, Ian Barlow, expressed serious concern at the prospect of losing the Market Place toilets, saying that, with 110,000 uses every year, they're the most highly used in the district.

The reasons for the review

A report to the committee stated that the council needs to save around £200,000 from the cost of providing public toilets. It also pointed out that many of the facilities across the district are in need of refurbishment, and some have access problems or cannot be used in a Covid-secure way.

The report says: "It is very important that we continue to provide high quality public toilets for our residents and that we recognise they have an important role to play in our visitor economy; but that future provision is financially sustainable and that we are making the best uses of our sites. Continued provision at our current level is no longer sustainable. This review seeks to balance the savings requirement with protecting a level of toilet provision, enhancing and investing in retained stock."

All of the toilet facilities operated by East Devon District Council have been categorised as A, B or C. Under the proposals in the report, all those in the A category will be retained and refurbished if necessary; those in category B will be looked at to see if they could be sold off, or leased to the operator of another business – a café, for example – who might still provide toilets. Those in Category C will either be closed or transferred to their town or parish council.

None of Sidmouth's toilets are in the C category, but both the Market Place and Port Royal buildings are in category B – although it is recognised that there will need to be toilet provision nearby if these are lost, and this could be in the form of new facilities at the Ham.

The councillors heard that the future of East Devon's public toilets would be put out to consultation, and discussed further at a later stage.