Agenda item

To implement the earlier decision in respect of the refurbishment of the public convenience in Rosemary Road, Clacton on Sea but not to introduce charging at this time and to seek approval for expenditure relating to the refurbishment of the public convenience at Promenade Way, Brightlingsea.

RESOLVED that -

(a)   the refurbishment of public conveniences (to be funded from Section 106 allocations) at Promenade Way, Brightlingsea at an estimated cost of £130,000 be approved; and

(b)   the refurbishment of the public convenience in Rosemary Road, Clacton-on-Sea, be authorised to proceed but that charges at this site be not introduced at this time.

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Leisure and Tourism Portfolio Holder (A.5) which - (1) sought its agreement to implement the earlier decision in respect of the refurbishment of the public conveniences in Rosemary Road, Clacton-on-Sea but not to introduce charging at this time; and (2) sought its approval for expenditure relating to the refurbishment of the public conveniences at Promenade Way, Brightlingsea.

Rosemary Road, Clacton-on-Sea

Members were aware that the public toilets in Rosemary Road, Clacton-on-Sea were the busiest year round facilities in Tendring. However, they were also subject to frequent misuse and had been identified in the Public Convenience Strategy as in need of refurbishment and £70,000 had subsequently been for this purpose. It had also been decided that charging would be introduced at this site.

A further £70,000 in reserves had been set aside for the refurbishment of additional facilities throughout the District.

It was reported that there was an agreement with in-house services to undertake the necessary work at Rosemary Road which was due to commence later in the year. The in-house solution would ensure a full refurbishment was achievable within budget. However, to facilitate the introduction of charges to this site an additional £30,000 would be required to provide the necessary infrastructure, which would in turn reduce the capital budget available for additional refurbishments of public conveniences elsewhere in the District. There would also be on-going additional maintenance costs to consider arising from the charging facilities as well as administrative costs associated with cash handling such as collection, banking, auditing of accounts.

It was estimated that a decision to not introduce charges at Rosemary Road would reduce potential future income to the Council by £20,000 per annum.

In addition a number of high profile closures of prime retailers in Clacton town centre were planned in the near future which could reduce ‘footfall’ and needed to be taken into account.

It was felt that the refurbishment of the Rosemary Road toilets would benefit Clacton town centre, promoting town centre rejuvenation as well as supporting the existing and future visitor economy. A refurbished modern town centre public convenience in Clacton would also reduce future operating costs.

However, the proposal at this time was to not introduce charging on this site but to consider charging both at this site and others at a future date in order to further support the aims of the Public Convenience Strategy for Tendring.  As technology advanced, particularly with ‘tap and go’ type technology, the risks to cash based charging systems could be all but removed.  This would be kept under review but at this juncture no charging mechanism would be put in place at this facility.

Promenade Way, Brightlingsea

The Cabinet was aware that this was a seafront location and was the main visitor area of Brightlingsea and that there had been many requests in recent years from all sections of the local community and seafront users for improvement to the general seafront infrastructure in this location.

Members recognised that the public conveniences at Promenade Way, Brightlingsea supported the visitor economy of the town and its blue flag beach area and were an important local asset.

It was reported that the work programme for in-house services was very extensive at present resulting in no available capacity for this Brightlingsea refurbishment. An open tender exercise had been sought for the refurbishment by outside contractors and the lowest bid had been in the region of £130,000.

There was no current budget available for this work other than by means of an application for Section 106 money which had been provisionally approved pending the decision of the Cabinet.

With the permission of the Chairman, Councillor Yallop addressed the Cabinet on this matter.

Having considered and discussed the issues raised in the report:-

It was moved by Councillor Stock OBE., seconded by Councillor G V Guglielmi and:-

RESOLVED that -

(a)   the refurbishment of public conveniences (to be funded from Section 106 allocations) at Promenade Way, Brightlingsea at an estimated cost of £130,000 be approved; and

(b)   the refurbishment of the public convenience in Rosemary Road, Clacton-on-Sea, be authorised to proceed but that charges at this site be not introduced at this time.