Guide Public Toilet Review

Show all parts of this guide

3. What we did about what you told us

Thank you to the almost 1,300 people and town / parish councils who filled in our Public Toilets Review questionnaire, telling us what they thought about our proposals. Here is an update and further information on what we are doing about what you told us.

A - What you told us about whether our public toilets need updating:

  • 80% agreed that investment is needed to re-furbish and re-design the council's public toilets to make them more modern, clean and accessible.

The current situation:

As proposed, we will improve, update and refurbish all of our public toilet sites that we are going to keep providing, this will cost £3 million:

  1. Axminster West Street Car Park
  2. Budleigh Salterton Cliff Path (West End / Steamer).
  3. Budleigh Salterton East End (Lime Kiln).
  4. Beer Jubilee Gardens.
  5. Exmouth Foxholes Car Park.
  6. Exmouth Magnolia Centre (London Inn).
  7. Exmouth Manor Gardens.
  8. Exmouth Queen’s Drive.
  9. Exmouth Phear Park.
  10. Honiton Lace Walk.
  11. Seaton West Walk.
  12. Sidmouth Connaught Gardens.
  13. Sidmouth Triangle (subject to further discussions with Sidmouth Town Council).
  14. Sidmouth Market Place or Sidmouth Port Royal (subject to further discussions with Sidmouth Town Council).

B - What you told us about our proposals to no longer provide some of the public toilets we currently provide:

What you told us about the guiding principles we’d used to make recommendations on the future of each of our public toilets:

  • 58% of respondents agreed with the guiding principles we’d used to make recommendations on the future of each of our public toilets, 42% disagreed. The 4 most popular reasons for disagreeing were:
      • Walking a minimum of 8 minutes to a public toilet could be difficult / impossible for people who are older both in terms of walking distance / urgency with which they need to go to the toilet (a lot mentioned those over the age of 60). East Devon has a significant proportion of older residents and visitors. This hasn’t been taken into account. (Where alternatives were suggested, it was to halve the distance / walking time).
      • People with mobility issues / certain health issues / that are pregnant would find it difficult / impossible to walk for a minimum of 8 minutes to get to a public toilet. This is both in terms of walking distance / urgency with which they need to go to the toilet This hasn’t been taken into account. (Where alternatives were suggested, it was to halve the distance / walking time)
      • East Devon’s tourist economy / higher and increasing visitor numbers mean that the same number / more public toilets are needed. The tourist economy relies of public toilets.
      • Small / young children and families with them can’t walk for a minimum of 8 minutes to get to a public toilet. This is both in terms of walking distance / urgency with which they need to go to the toilet This hasn’t been taken into account. (Where alternatives were suggested, it was to halve the distance / walking time.

What you told us about the lists of which public toilets we proposed to keep and improve, and which ones we proposed to try and find other organisations to provide:

  • 66% of respondents disagreed with our proposed categorisation of all of our public toilet sites as listed, 34% agreed. We analysed this further to discover which public toilets respondents most disagreed with the categorisation of.
  • Over 50% of respondents who were also residents of the town or village the public toilets were in disagreed with the categorisation of Sidmouth Market Place / Port Royal. It was proposed we would keep and improve one of these toilet sites, but not both.
  • Over 50% of respondents who were also residents of the town or village the public toilets were in disagreed with the categorisation of the following public toilet sites. The categorisations of these meant that East Devon District Council would no longer provide them, but that we would look for other organisations to provide them instead:
      • Budleigh Salterton Station Road Car Park.
      • Colyton.
      • Exmouth Bus / Train Station.
      • Honiton King Street.
      • Seaton Harbour Road Car Park.
      • Seaton Hole.

The current situation:

  • We cannot afford to maintain our current public toilets service, and here is why; East Devon District Council has always strived to deliver good quality services and facilities for its residents and visitors. This has been done whilst always setting a balanced budget. However, successive reductions in central government funding over the last 10 years has made this increasingly difficult. We faced a £3m funding gap unless we changed the way we operate.
  • The 8 minutes walking distance between public toilet sites was set as a maximum, but in reality it would usually be a lot less where we proposed to provide multiple sites in one locality. The majority of the public toilets we proposed to keep and improve are about 4 minutes walk apart or there are alternative facilities that mean the walk between sites is not as much as 8 minutes.

What we are going to do after hearing the results of the consultation:

  • We had proposed to sell off some of our public toilet sites that we would no longer be providing. As a result of what you told us in the consultation we will now keep ownership of all of them and lease / rent them out to other organisations. This will mean we can set terms and conditions that the leaseholder has to abide by, which can include making sure that publicly accessible toilets continue to be provided at that site.
  • Whereas we had proposed to look at alternative uses that didn’t include a publicly accessible toilet for some sites more quickly in some cases, we will now work harder to try and keep as many publicly accessible toilets as we can, we just may not be the ones providing them.
  • 18 people / town and parish councils / organisations / businesses expressed an interest in finding out more about taking over one or multiple public toilets in their area, or definitely wanted to take them over. This information has been compiled and sent to our Streetscene and Estates Teams for them to discuss with the interested parties, which they are now doing.
  • We will write to all relevant businesses and make a powerful case for them to offer use of their toilets to non-paying customers who may have disabilities and illnesses that aren’t always visible.
  • We will help fund the legal and transfer fees of town and parish councils taking on the running of any of the public toilet sites that we will no longer provide.
  • Where we will no longer provide the public toilet sites, we will continue to pay for them for a maximum of a year, and in the case of Honiton King’s Street until April 2023. This will mean these public toilets can stay open until they are transferred over, or until the alternative use happens.
  • We will write to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to ask them to ask the Treasury to create a fund to help councils pay for providing public toilets and to make providing public toilets something that local authorities must do.

Summary of what is now happening to the public toilet sites we will no longer be providing

Category B Public Toilet Sites - We will no longer provide the following public toilets ourselves, as proposed. They are currently being advertised to see if any town / parish council, business or other organisation wants to take over the running of these public toilet sites at a reduced market value rent. It would be in the lease / rental conditions that a publicly accessible toilet would have to be provided at the site.

  • Budleigh Salterton Station Road
  • Exmouth Imperial Recreation Ground
  • Exmouth Orcombe Point
  • Exmouth The Maer
  • Seaton Harbour Road Car Park
  • Seaton Hole
  • Sidmouth Market Place or Sidmouth Port Royal (subject to further discussions with Sidmouth Town Council)

If no-one comes forward to take on these sites and continue to provide a publicly accessible toilet, we will look at other options that don’t include one.

Category C Public Toilet Sites - We will no longer provide the following public toilets ourselves, as proposed. The relevant town / parish councils are currently being offered these public toilets at a token/peppercorn, minimal rent, not at market value rent. It would be in the lease / rental conditions that a publicly accessible toilet would have to be provided at the site.

  • Budleigh Salterton Brook Road Car Park
  • Colyton Dolphin Street Car Park
  • Exmouth Bus / Train Station
  • Exmouth Jarvis Close
  • Honiton King Street Car Park
  • Seaton Marsh Road

If the town / parish council isn’t interested in taking over the running of these Category C public toilet sites at a token / minimal rent, we will see if anyone else, maybe a local business or other organisation, wants to take on these sites for a market value rent. It would be in the lease / rental conditions that a publicly accessible toilet would have to be provided at the site. If no one wants to take them on, then in most cases they would be demolished to provide additional car parking spaces.

C - What you told us about us charging people to use the public toilets we’re going to keep and improve:

  • 56% would support a charge of between 30p and 50p to use the council's public toilets, if it helps keep more of the council's public toilet sites open in future years. 36% would not support this.
  • 56% would would support a charge of between 30p and 50p to use the council's public toilets if it means they're of better quality and cleaner in future years. 36% would not support this.
  • 71% felt that if there was a charge, it should be 30p, 29% said it should be 40p or more.
  • If we were to introduce a charge of between 30p and 50p for using some or all of our public toilets to help keep more of our public toilet sites open in future years, and make sure they're of better quality and cleaner, 66% felt we should offer a discount card to people with medical needs.

What we are going to do after hearing the results of the consultation:

Contactless payments of 40p per visit will be charged at our Category A sites once they have been refurbished for all the public toilets that East Devon District Council will keep and improve. Although more people would prefer a 30p charge, councillors decided on a charge of 40p per use as acceptable due to benchmarking with other authorities, protecting ongoing provision and to offset the costs of running them.

We are investigating the feasibility of providing pre-paid cards for those without access to contactless payments, those with certain disabilities and / or those on certain benefits.