Ide Hill Toilets: The Views of the Ide Hill Society
Dear Member or former Member
The Committee of the Ide Hill Society recently attended a Zoom meeting led by Don Baker with other Ide Hill Ward Parish Councillors Polly Furse and David Miller attending. They explained the background to the consultation/survey on the Ide Hill public toilets and sought the support of our membership for the keeping this facility fully open.
The projected annual cost of cleaning and maintenance is £7500, which amounts to roughly £5 per resident of the Parish Council. In the absence of any explanation we can only assume that Sundridge Ward councillors feel that it is not in their residents’ interest to maintain this commitment or that the money is better spent elsewhere.
It is the unanimous and strongly held view of your Committee that the toilets should remain fully open. Without this facility the cafe will be unable to re-open after lockdown unless [and even then until] alternative facilities can be provided. The shop and its amazing team of volunteers is at the heart of our community and widely admired. The cafe is an integral part and without it the shop is scarcely profitable and its long term viability therefore uncertain.
The toilets are also a heavily used facility for cyclists, walkers and other visitors, many from afar, who will not suddenly disappear if the café closes, as we have seen in lockdown. Closure of the facilities would therefore have unmentionable implications for decency and public health.
It is of course your decision on how, or whether, to respond to this consultation but our Committee will be voting for keeping the toilets fully open and adding a comment that this should be on a permanent basis.
We strongly encourage you to do so too.
Paul Meredith
Chair of the Ide Hill Society