All of Thanet’s beach public toilets will be reopened this weekend (May 30).
The decision follows the easing of travel restrictions which resulted in an influx of visitors to isle beaches and bays and complaints of public areas awash with urine and human waste.
However, a warning has been issued that the facilities will be closed if staff cleaning the sites encounter abusive behaviour.
From Saturday beach toilets will be open to the public from 10am to 5pm daily, including disabled facilities which will be accessible with a RADAR key:
- Minnis Bay;
- West Bay;
- Westbrook Bay;
- St Mildred’s Bay;
- Botany Bay;
- Stone Bay;
- Dumpton Gap.
- The clock tower toilets in Marine Drive remain closed due to repairs needed on the structural condition of the building
Toilets open already include:
- Joss Bay;
- Margate Main Sands (Buenos Ayres/TS Eliot);
- Viking Bay (Harbour Street);
- Ramsgate (near Wetherspoons).
Cllr Steve Albon, Cabinet Member for Operational Services said: “As the Bank Holiday weekend showed, people are venturing further afield in light of the easing of government lockdown restrictions. We will therefore be opening all of our beach toilets from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 30 May.
“We have put in place a number of measures to provide a clean and safe environment for people using them. Hand sanitiser is provided and there are posters with information about maintaining social distancing, keeping cubicles clean and hand washing. We urge people not to use the facilities as a changing room as sand blocks the toilets.
“We are relying on members of the public to respect the space and to act in a responsible manner – leaving them as they would expect to find them. Our staff in the toilets are cleaners and are not there to manage or enforce social distancing.
“They worked extremely hard last weekend to keep our facilities open. It is a tough job, particularly in the current circumstances, and it is absolutely unacceptable to be abusive or rude to those members of staff. If this continues to happen, we will be left with no choice but to close the facilities.”
