Agenda item

The Leader of the Council.

Executive Member for Commercial and Community Assets, Councillor Andrew King, gave the Executive’s response to the petition. At full Council in September, a petition was debated regarding the provision of public toilets in three of the Council’s parks. It had been resolved to refer the petition to the Executive for consideration.

The report set out details of that petition and contextual information regarding existing and proposed toilet provision in the three parks as well as details of other public toilets in the vicinity.

Taking into consideration the provision of the existing level of public toilet provision, it was not proposed to install any new public toilets and amend the existing provision.

The Leader noted that temporary toilets had been put in place until the renovated cafes reopened with new toilets, therefore toilet provision in the parks had continued. It was important to note that the Council was providing these services where other Councils had ceased to provide them. New facilities have also been provided in developments like The Rise in Redhill. There needed to be provision but at an affordable cost to the Council.

It was noted that the petitioner was unable to attend the meeting.

Visiting Members made the following observations:

·        They noted provision in Redhill, Reigate and in Merstham as part of the updated cafés. There was concern about Lady Neville Park as the nearest public toilets were a long walk away, therefore this needed further consideration.

·        Alternative provision of toilets in Redhill was questioned, as the toilets set out in the report were some distance when walking from Memorial Park. There was also a question on equity comparing provision in Redhill to Reigate. Members asked for assurance that in future there would continue to be provision of public conveniences if there was any break in the letting of the cafes.

The Leader clarified that in Redhill Park, the separation of the café and toilets was not possible because of how the building was constructed and there was no separate access to the toilets without going through the cafe. There were toilets in Redhill Park at the moment with the Big Top pantomime taking place in Redhill and also temporary toilets in Reigate Park. Noted the request to confirm whether it would be possible to access the toilets from the outside in the new Merstham facility but also noted the need to balance this with the security as well as the additional considerable costs. The average cost of maintaining a public toilet is between £40,000 to £80,000 a year, representing about 3 to 4 per cent of the Council tax bill alone to provide in all parks.

The Property Manager confirmed that the distances were set out in the report to highlight the distance of Council-operated public toilets from the parks.

The Leader confirmed that it had been possible to open the café in Redhill because staff from the Harlequin were available to be redeployed to the café while staffing the Big Top Panto.

RESOLVED that the Executive:

i) Considers the information presented in this report and confirms that no changes will be made to public convenience provision in the borough