Icklesham Parish Council are aware that Rother District Council have advertised the toilet buildings in Winchelsea Beach and Winchelsea for letting using our ideas for these buildings. We have been in discussions with Rother District Council about taking over both facilities for many years so this came as a total shock to furious residents and councillors alike. The situation has been very complex as the buildings are in a terrible state of repair and realistically, it is likely that the only option is to demolish both buildings and replace the public toilet facilities which is what IPC wanted to do and we have been waiting to hear from Rother on this subject for months.
Rother District Council initially offered both facilities to Icklesham Parish Council on a leasehold basis, however, given the potential costs involved in demolishing and rebuilding the Parish Council, on behalf of residents, stipulated that in order to take the toilets over, the Parish Council would want the freehold interest of both sites. This is to ensure the future of the buildings and also to protect Icklesham Parish taxpayers’ money. Rother District Council have refused to transfer the freehold and are now offering the sites to private businesses. The Parish Council have never understood their reluctance to handover these facilities, particularly as we thought Rother’s aim has always been to devolve these facilities onto Town and Parish Councils – this was obviously not the case.
The adverts on Dyer and Hobbis’s website stipulate that the lessee would need to provide public toilet facilities during business operating hours, the adverts do not state whether these facilities would be for paying business customers only, a free service or how Rother District Council intend to manage and enforce this.
Icklesham Parish Council are very much of the view that the best way to preserve these essential public services is to transfer them to the Parish Council. We have written a three page letter to Rother District Council complaining about their action in “selling off” assets – residents can view this letter on our website (Icklesham-pc.gov.uk). We have reiterated our interest in managing the toilets and the freehold title, the decision of whether to go ahead with this now lies with Rother District Council.
We will of course update residents as and when we receive further information from Rother District Council.
Here is a link to the letter IPC sent to Rother District Council:-