Dear Crofters,
Unfortunately, not very long after having reopened, we are having to temporarily close the toilet block due to continued vandalism.
The toilet block was functional for last year’s carnival, exterior work finished in the autumn, and they were officially reopened on 2nd December. However, since then, the toilets have been subjected to no fewer than six bouts of vandalism. The latest spate, which occurred on Monday afternoon, resulted in the two toilets in the ladies’ cubicles being completely ripped from the walls, as per the photos. The toilet in the gents’ side had its cistern lid removed – as per the photo – and this was then smashed all over the bench by the zip-line.
The crime was reported to the police, the reference being IML-1593712 and the Crime/Occurrence number is 23000620233.
It’s believed that this took place between approx. 17:00 and 17:30 on Monday 10th July, possibly carried out by local youths. If you saw anything suspicious, then please could you contact 101 quoting the above ref numbers.
The parish council is now genuinely at a loss as to how to proceed with the toilet block going forward. We would welcome any suggestions from you, the villagers, as these facilities are here for you.
Some options are:
Close them permanently and/or knock the building down.
Reopen them but charge to use them.
Completely repurpose the building and convert into e.g., a community café (similar to Birchwood Forest Park, run by members of the community as volunteers).
Keep going as we are and keep spending public money on repairs to vandalism.
Put back the cast iron gates over the doors, although this would only work when the doors are locked.
Any other suggestions would be welcome.
Many thanks.
