A funding bid to replace the public toilets next to Rye station has been rejected.
Proposals to knock down the toilets and install new facilities had been given the go ahead by Rye Town Council in June subject to funding. The council agreed to put in a bid for £200,000 from the Rother Strategic Community Infrastructure Levy.
“The panel making the decision were supportive of our plans,” said Rebekah Gilbert who has been leading Station Approach toilets project for the council. “They said it was a good proposal but told us we need both the lease for the building and a charity to run it.”
She told Rye Town Council on Monday 20 July that she had been encouraged to bid again in October if the issues with the lease and charity had “progressed further.”
The toilets are owned by Network Rail and leased to Rother District Council.
“It’s been a constant battle to get them sorted,” said Rye Mayor Chris Hoggart. “This council would love to take them on but we just don’t have the cash. We would definitely do a better job if we had the funding.”
Under the proposals, the toilets would be knocked down and replaced with a new modular building, one built off-site ready for installation.
Image Credits: James Stewart .
Why demolish a well-built, relatively new, functional and purpose-built structure? Whatever faults it may have surely can be overcome by cheaper renovations or adaptions rather than outright and costly demolition and replacement . We all need to be thinking more about salvage and repair rather than demolition and replacement if we want to reduce the environmental stresses all of us need to assist in achieving.The infrastructure levy needs to be wisely spent and not in my view squandered on unnecessary projects like replacing this building entirely when it can be adapted and repaired .
We pay a local levy on Council tax so why is this money not available for this ? I guess it gets added to general pot and spent on other things but I would be interested to know exactly what
Well done to all those involved in trying to get these appalling toilets replaced for visitors and local people here in Rye! Hopefully future bids will be successful!
Well surprise, surprise, it was a bad idea from the start. There is absolutely no need to knock down the existing building at all, it is perfectly sound but may need some work to the roof. Eighteen months ago I put together I put together a good proposal that would costs probably no more than £25,000- £35,000 which was rejected. At that point Network Rail would agree to dispose of the freehold of the site and RDC would have been happy to relinquish the lease they have. At the same time I had quotes from companies to in stall a pay entry system and at as cost of £0.50 per entry, it would pay for itself and probably show a profit for the town. Estimates to refurbish the building, install new sanitary equipment was easily achievable within the budget, but of course no one was interested as they had not thought of it first.
There has never been the neds for a knock down and in excess of £200,000 ro be spent, that’s just a vanity project that looks good (although the modules suggested would have been totally out of character for Rye), what is needed is a sensible quick solution that can be achieved quickly, cheaply and without too much disturbance. A committee is not required for this, just someone who knows what they are doing, a budged & funding and the ability to cut through all the red tape and GET THE JOB DONE.
If anyone is interested in joing in with me on this project, please reply to my email address and lest see if we can get toilets in Rye to be proud of.
It’s the school kids that create the most vandalism to the toilets and create havoc on the trains. Get the schools involved. Why does Rye have to suffer the behaviour of these kids from other areas? Or start locking them during the peak school rush period.