Councillor slams plans for temporary toilets on Yorkshire beach as "waste of money"

Redcar and Cleveland Council is spending more than £11,000 on a portable toilet block near to Redcar’s Majuba beach in the Coatham area of the town.

The toilets were put in place in late May and will remain until October 25, the intention being to provide extra facilities to meet demand from the public when the town is at its busiest with visitors.

Councillor Billy Wells, who represents the Newcomen ward in Redcar and is a former mayor of the borough, said the money could have been better spent on frontline services which were struggling.

He said: “We already have toilets in a public building there – Tuned In! – but the council doesn’t advertise the fact that anyone can use them.

“We are wasting public money – this is the kind of thing you are up against all the time and there’s always an excuse after an excuse after an excuse.”

Council managing director John Sampson, who signed off the expenditure, confirmed in an e-mail to Cllr Wells that the cost of the temporary toilets amounted to £11,658, which included their hire and installation, the water and electricity supply connection and cleaning and maintenance.

He said it worked out at just under £79 a day in terms of cost to the taxpayer.

The council said the permanent toilets in Tuned In! weren’t adequate for the level of demand and heavy use by people using the beach was causing queues and bringing in sand.

Another factor was the building’s use for youth club sessions which, for safeguarding reasons, meant its toilets were unavailable to the general public during such times.

A council spokeswoman said the temporary toilets were felt to be a good interim solution and were being paid for from its overall budget for public toilets.

Permanent additional toilets are to be included with a planned outdoor watersports centre at Coatham, paid for by Redcar Town Deal funding, although it will be next summer at the earliest before these are in place.