Leader confident seafront toilets will stay open

A council leader is "confident" that a resort's seafront toilets that were under threat of closure will remain open.

Eastbourne Borough Council had been consulting with residents and businesses on ways to save an extra £2.7m, on top of the £3m already cut in its current annual budget.

Among the cuts being considered was a proposal to replace seafront public toilets with a community toilet scheme. A petition was launched by Friends of Eastbourne Seafront to save the facilities.

Council leader Stephen Holt said on Tuesday: "I agree with the calls made to protect the toilets in Eastbourne and have been laser focused on doing that. I am now confident that we can keep all the seafront toilets open."

He added: “We are also negotiating with partners on keeping the other public toilets open across the town.

"Officers are bringing forward plans that could see more publicly accessible toilets than ever before. We are discussing 19 potential toilet locations, including in areas where there hasn’t been provision before."

The community toilet scheme would involve local businesses allowing non-customers to use their facilities.

A range of proposals for possible service cuts, which include the seafront toilets, will go before the council's Cabinet committee on 13 November.

Mr Holt continued: “We are not alone in having to find savings, the majority of UK councils are in the same boat. East Sussex County Council is currently consulting on savings to address a £55m funding gap."

The council said that "unprecedented levels" of temporary accommodation were threatening the financial viability of the authority.

In a statement, the council said: "The cost of living crisis and no-fault evictions were both key factors that had led to rising numbers of residents unable to pay their mortgages and rent, leaving them in need of accommodation.

"The council is currently spending nearly £5 million a year on temporary accommodation, which is 49p in every pound collected in council tax."

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