In June 2017, Tendring Council closed ten toilets including the one on Ipswich Road, Holland-on-Sea, which is on a protected open space.

Holland councillors Colin Winfield, K T King and Joy Broderick have fought since then to keep this important public convenience at our local shops.

This has included a motion to rescind the decision, an online ‘spend a penny’ campaign which produced some heart-breaking stories from the disabled, elderly, sick and young mothers and a petition which was raised through shops run by Councillors King and Winfield.

In February 2019, we called in a decision to lease the building as a café.

As a result, the lessee has agreed to provide a public toilet with outside disability-enabled access with a radar key in case the toilet is closed.

This application went to the planning committee for consideration, so we thought it would be sensible to get a public confirmation of our concerns which were presented to the committee by K T King and Colin Winfield.

These included: As announced in the Gazette the work to move the Frinton Road surgery to Kennedy Way is happening so their toilet will no longer be available;

Local shopkeepers have found it impossible to allow people to use their staff toilets as they are situated behind public areas;

Lack of a public convenience can cause isolation and mental ill health. Twenty-seven per cent of people in the area are over 65 years of age, often they can’t drive or walk fast. They rely on our great variety of local shops in order to remain independent. This generation know the real meaning of poverty from the war and rationing years;

A public convenience at this site is also essential for peripatetic workers such as bus drivers, police, ambulance crews, street cleaners and postal staff;

Tendring Council is one of the Livewell Partners as well as British Toilet Association members, and, should live up to its commitments;

The proposed alterations to the former public convenience encroach on protected open space (and will extend beyond the footpath currently there);

If the application is approved it will make a precedent for more building on the site, which could have an impact on the environment.

The committee assured us that our concerns had been addressed and the assets legal officer confirmed that the public access toilet will be written into the lease.

We would like to thank the committee for all their expertise and for reaching the correct decision; a victory for those we represent.

Holland-on-Sea councillors Joy Broderick, K T King and Colin Winfield