Temporary toilets have been installed in Margate due to facilities at Bueno Ayres (Nayland) and the Harbour Arm undergoing repairs and those in The Centre are fire damaged.
Thanet council has installed the temporary toilets on Marine Terrace and near Droit House. These will stay in place until late September.
Temporary loos will also be installed at Botany Bay at the end of the month before the Easter season.
A Thanet council statement says: “The toilet provision in Margate has been impacted by the combination of ongoing repair works at Buenos Ayres and the Harbour Arm, as well as fire damage to the women’s toilets at The Centre.
“In response we have installed temporary toilets. There are some on Marine Terrace, close to the Clocktower and a further two near Droit House.
“Usually, toilets would be installed ahead of Easter weekend but due to the current works it was decided that we needed to bring this forward.
“Additional seasonal temporary loos will be in place at Botany Bay from the end of March.
“The toilets will be opened and cleaned in line with our standard toilet management schedule. They will all remain in place until late September.”
The Clocktower toilets in Marine Drive which were shut in 2019 due to ‘structural problems’ and have remained closed ever since.
The same year a review into the future of the isle’s public toilets was announced by TDC as part of a bid to save £175,000 in its 2019-20 budget. A community loo deal with local businesses was one idea suggested although no further action was made public.
Thanet council’s corporate statement for 2019-2023 stated it planned to: “Undertake a full and thorough review of our public toilet facilities including providing incentives for businesses to make good quality facilities available to the public.”
A review was then agreed in November 2020 when it was reported by TDC that a total of 28 public toilets were open to the public over the summer season with 13 on or near to Thanet beaches. The review and recommendations were due to be reported back to Cabinet members in March 2021 although this did not take place.
The council’s 2020/21 budget made a proposal to invest in a public toilet refurbishment programme, reversing the plan to make £175,000 in savings. Although this has not yet taken place some maintenance got underway last year.
A public toilet strategy was earmarked to be discussed at the start of this year but this is yet to happen.
Public toilets in Cavendish Street, Ramsgate, are also shut due to antisocial behaviour and drug use at the site.
Councils are not required by law to provide loos and continuing cuts to local authority funding have resulted in public toilets plunging by more than 600 across the country since 2010.
