Loos demolished after protest fails

Villagers have been driven round the bend after a disused toilet block was demolished despite calls for it to be reopened.

The 1930s public convenience was pulled down on Monday morning following the formal opening of the pavilion at Woodmansterne Sports Club on Sunday.

Destruction: The toilet block being demolished on Monday
Privy protest: Villagers outside the public toilet with a letter which said their campaign had been unsuccessful Photo No: RSMpg211109-D-03

Despite being closed for more than eight years, people living near the brick-built loos in Woodmansterne Street had campaigned for them to stay and submitted an 18-page petition to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council.

Dot Teather, 68, who lived next door to the toilets, said: "We wanted to keep them because they were part of our history. We have very little history left and this was a beautiful brick building which looked like a little chalet. I'm gutted."

The borough council claims the toilets were demolished as part of a wider project to improve sports facilities at Woodmansterne Recreation Ground – now home to the pavilion, for use by the sports club.

The £800,000 project was funded by Reigate and Banstead Borough Council and the Football Foundation.

But villagers said there was still a need for the old toilets because the new facilities are for use by the club – not members of the public.

Campaigners say the toilets belonged to the village because the land on which they stood was bought by the now defunct parish council in the 1920s.

They were due to be pulled down a year ago but were granted a stay of execution following protests.

The council claims the protesters were given a chance to devise a plan to manage them. But it said no plan had been forthcoming and it would have been too expensive to reopen the toilets.

A council spokesman said: "The footfall in the park is not very high, except when sports matches are being played, and the toilets were used too little to warrant keeping them open.

"Unfortunately, it is not cost-effective to keep isolated public buildings open.

"The council has adopted a policy of moving park toilets to within other staffed facilities, where possible, in order to reduce the cost of vandalism and incidents of antisocial behaviour."

For full coverage of the Woodmansterne Pavilion opening turn to page 52.