INNOVATIVE plans to keep public toilets in Rother available are moving forward with discussions over nine sites continuing.
At the end of 2024, Rother District Council announced proposals to allow businesses to transform the buildings, keeping toilet facilities open for the public.
Council officers are working with a number of businesses interested in using nine of the original 14 public toilet buildings in the hope they can be transformed before summer 2026. Any agreement would have to incorporate keeping public toilets available while the business is open.
Cllr Doug Oliver, leader of Rother District Council, said: “This is an innovative way to ensure that toilet facilities remain available to the public and I am delighted to see so much interest in the idea.
“Like local authorities across the country we face unprecedented financial pressures putting services that we do not have a legal duty to deliver, such as public toilets, under threat.
“Without this initiative, responsibility for these nine public toilets would have to be taken on by town or parish councils, or the facilities would close.”
Of the nine toilet buildings, four are permanently closed or open only for the summer season, three are being managed by Bexhill Town Council for 2025, and two are open all year round.
Cllr Christine Bayliss, the district council’s portfolio holder for economic development, said: “This initiative is so positive for the district. As well as protecting services for the local community, it will help unlock business opportunities, create jobs and bring a welcome boost to the economy.
“With public toilets open when businesses are operating, it should also help to reduce vandalism which costs the taxpayer a considerable amount of money every year.”
She added: “I am grateful to officers who have work extremely hard to get to this point and I look forward to seeing plans come to fruition.”
The nine public toilets over which discussions continue include Mount Street in Battle, Bexhill East Parade, Bexhill West Parade, Little Common Recreation Ground, Little Common Roundabout, Gun Gardens in Rye, Strand Quay in Rye, Lucknow Place in Rye and Normans Bay in Bexhill.
Published: 5th August 2025
