THE public toilet crisis will remain “unresolved” for another summer after a council vote, the Conservatives have warned.

The Greens and Labour voted against a Conservative motion that would have put in place interim measures to address the issues experienced at the height of summer, by installing temporary facilities including portaloos.

A Tory statement said there has been “increasing dissatisfaction with the state of public conveniences” in recent months, including the lack of the facilities, state of facilities and long queues.

The Greens say work will commence on refurbishing three toilet facilities in the autumn of this year, while calls for the purchase of portaloos over the summer is “not possible”.

Conservative Group Environment, Transport and Sustainability spokesman Robert Nemeth said Labour and Greens had not listened to residents about the matter.

“The council is drifting further away from the actual concerns of residents in this city,” he said.

“How out of touch the council has become was summed up the meeting, when Labour and Greens voted against action on public toilets but for action against a decision of the United States Supreme Court.

“Their heads are in the clouds, and they have lost touch with reality on the issues that need fixing in this city.

“As a result it will now be another summer that residents will have to endure without enough toilet facilities on the seafront.”

Conservative councillor Samer Bagaeen, who co-sponsored the proposal, said the city’s public toilets were not fit for purpose.

“The toilets are antiquated and in a dreadful state, well below modern standards and the standards of other cities in the UK. The Pavilion Gardens and Hove seafront toilets are particularly bad,” she said.

“This is also an equality issue, with not enough facilities for the disabled.

“Just as with its refusal to reopen face to face customer services, the council has buried its head in the sand yet again and the residents are not happy.”

Green Cllr Siriol Hugh-Jones said the new contractual arrangements, where the council is now responsible for the cleaning and maintenance, will provide “better management”.

“This political posturing from the Conservatives is only serving to mislead the public, despite the planned refurbishment programme being publicly available.

“Meanwhile, their U-turn on the provision of portaloos shows that they can’t make their mind up on what they want. Their attitude quite simply, stinks. 

“We know that our toilets are in a sorry state – and that’s why they will be refurbished, starting with Kings Esplanade, Daltons Bastion, Station Road and Saltdean Undercliff in the autumn.

“In the meanwhile, bringing the cleaning and maintenance of toilets in-house in light of concerns about the standard of service by our previous contractor has been a resounding success, despite some recruitment difficulties.”

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