More than 1,300 people have signed a petition in just over 24 hours, calling on councillors to keep public toilets open in public parks.
The petition – “Proposed closures of public toilets” – was posted on Brighton and Hove City Council’s website yesterday (Thursday 12 January) by Adam Penwarden.
The petition was started in response to plans to close public toilets. The plans are due to be debated by the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee on Tuesday (17 January).
Mr Penwarden is co-director of the Preston Park parkrun, a timed 5km run that takes place in the park at 9am every Saturday.
The free event attracted more than 26,000 people to Preston Park alone last year, according to the petition, and was one of five parkruns across Brighton and Hove.
The parkrun in Hove Park attracted similar numbers who will be affected by a proposal to shut the toilets there throughout the winter.
A report to councillors outlined the potential effects on sports, including football, tennis and parkrun.
Mr Penwarden, 57, who co-founded the Preston Park event 10 years ago, said that the toilets were constantly in use.
He said: “There were some runners in the park this morning, three women in their seventies, just out for a run – and they needed to use the loo. We have people with disabilities who need the toilet.
“People will stop coming. I do not know how you can organise a parkrun without a toilet when you’ve got 500 people turning up and need the loo.”
Mr Penwarden was also concerned about the future of the Chalet café in Preston Park because the proposed closure of the toilets will leave staff with nowhere to go.
He said that the £300,000 saving was relatively small “considering the scale of the problem”.
The council has planned cuts to a number of non-statutory services to tackle a £19 million shortfall next year and a potential budget gap of £54 million over the next four years.
In July 2021, the council brought toilet cleaning “in-house”. This resulted in higher staffing costs as work patterns changed. The lowest-paid staff received an increase and workers had contracted hours rather than zero-hour contracts.
The petition can be signed on the council’s website until Wednesday 8 February and is scheduled to be presented to the council’s “budget” Policy and Resources Committee the next day.
The Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm next Tuesday (17 January).
The Policy and Resources Committee is due to meet at the town hall at 4pm on Thursday 9 February. Both meetings are scheduled to be webcast on the council’ website.
This is a major issue for me after having bowel cancer surgery, i need access to toilets at short notice but the green council are closing them all. Even when they are open on Hove seafront they are uncleaned.
Preston Park?
Who is the Green candidate in May 2023?
Oh it’s Steve Davis I think – he who says there’s no money to keep toilets
It will be interesting to see if the petition exceeds 2000 signatures – after all that’s all the greens considered necessary to start imposing cycle hangers on the town’s streets with no regard to the wishes of the 99.25% of the population who apparently didn’t want them…
Petition won’t load every time I try ! I use both parks on a regular basis and play football at hove park but u always need to go to the toilet before I start ! Not to mention when u hate children with you where are we ment to do our business the bushes are we going back to Covid times again ! Crazy just crazy how about you hold those accountable for the terrible financial decisions made in the last ten years and leave important essential public services well alone ! They are about to embark on a super expensive road change at the old stein which is Ill thought out and not to mention the disaster that is the i360 but can’t find money to pay for toilets to be cleaned !! Seriously appalling !
To add to this story there is also the Kids park runs both in Preston park and Hove park (amongst many others) that would be impacted
Will probably be beyond 2000 signatures in under 48 hours. If the Greens think closing toilets is acceptable – it simply is not. The savings are tiny in an 800 million plus budget and with such a short time until elections this looks like political suicide.
The Greens have already committed political suicide many times over, yet they still have a lot of supporters. I can only think that such supporters need psychiatric help.
You are right. The alleged savings – and they won’t be savings in the end, because it will turn out that the officers’ sums were all wrong, as usual – are tiny in the overall context.
I’ve asked this question many times on this forum and no answer has ever been forthcoming – and, furthermore, has any councillor questioned how and why this happened – an announced £13m overspend on staff.
Big bucks in the context of a tiny spend on loos, don’t you think.
They are closing several disabled toilets too. This council seems to get a kick out of deliberately excluding disabled people from our city. While putting cyclists and “active travel” on a pedestal. They are hurtling towards body fascism. Morally repulsive.
Vote the Greens out. They don’t seem to care about people with health conditions or disabilities.
The Greens are showing utter contempt for the disabled and the old, with the closure of toilets, the proposed removal of the sheltered bus stop opposite the hospital and the loss of disabled parking places in Gardner Street. Meanwhile they continue to waste money on unnecessary cycle lanes (eg Hove seafront), traffic alterations around Valley Gardens and Old Steine, the illuminated “artwork” at Madeira Arches, and the ongoing fiasco with the i360. And speaking of that ghastly horror, why is it still being lit up through the night, every night, when we are being asked by the government to conserve energy? That is the same government that Phelim and his cronies are moaning about at every opportunity.
We are up to 3400 signatures!
https://democracy.brighton-hove.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=870&RPID=58411582&HPID=58411582
Very well done, Adam. Let’s get some more!