double blow for east prom toilets

The Lib Dem’s have reneged on their promises yet again – check out the story here.

Media coverage and even a response!

Today’s EDP has covered Trevor’s latest call for action from NNDC, raising the profile of the campaign.

Also this week, Trevor has received an email from the leader of NNDC confirming that the petition, “has received most careful consideration.”  She made no mention of what the outcome of that consideration was though – we await this with interest!

Still waiting…

Almost two months since the petition was handed into the District Council, we are still waiting for a response.

Trevor has sent a chasing email and we shall keep up the pressure.  See what Trevor had to say here.

Petition handed-in

Trevor is joined by Madeline Ashcroft and ladies from the Sheringham Enhancement Group as he presents the petition to the District Council

Progress is still slow and the District Council is failing to honour the comitments that have been made to safeguard the East Prom toilet building from further deterioration.

So I recently went with Madeline Ashcroft and the ladies of the Sheringham Enhancement Group to present a petition to the District Council Leader.

With the help of the ladies and local businesses I collected signatures on the petition last year and by the time we handed it in there werealmost 2,000 signatures from local people and from visitors from all over the world.

I have not yet had a substantive reply from the District Council Leader, but I am sure that the reason for the delay is simply the amount of time it is taking her to read all the signatures.

Watch this space….

Update

You may be wondering why there has been a gap since this blog was last updated.  The reason is that our District Councillor made some comitments at the public meeting that I hoped would move the issue on. 

Unfortunately, months later progress is still not being made.  So the campaign continues and you can keep up with it here.

public meeting secures important concessions

Last night’s public meeting at the community centre in the town was well attended, with over fifty people turning out to let North Norfolk District Council know how important the future of the toilets are to them.

The meeting was an important step forward, with the man responsible for toilets at the District Council, Brian Hannah, promising that there would be no more toilet closures in Sheringham, including the High Street toilets that have been under threat until now.

Find out more on about the meeting on my website.

public meeting called

Sheringham residents will already have seen from the press and posters around the town that a public meeting has been called to discuss the future of toilets in Sheringham this Friday, 10 October.  The meeting is being held at the Community Centre at 6.30pm and is open to all so please do come along.  It has been organised jointly by the mayor of Sheringham, Trevor Ivory, Sheringham Chamber of Trade, the Sheringham Enhancement Group, Age Concern and the Women’s Institute.

Our MP and local councillors have been invited to hear local residents concerns.

Do come along if you can.

we need an answer about the future of the high street toilets

There is a lot of uncertainty over the future of the High Street toilets.

In the report produced by the District Council in 2005 states that it was, “agreed to close [the High Street toilets] subject to an alternative use for the whole building.”  As far as we can tell, this decision has never been changed so that the position is still that the toilets will be closed if and when an alternative use is found for the building.

But a recent Lib Dem leaflet in the town claims that the High Street toilets are safe.  As we have said before, this is great news if it is true, but we have still not seen any evidence that the decision has been overturned yet.  So Trevor will shortly be writing to the District Council asking them to confirm once and for all what the position is over the High Street toilets.

On a more positive note, Trevor recently visited YESU and heard about their ideas to take over the High Street toilets. The ideas are still at an early stage, but may well secure the toilets future if the District Council supports them.

councillor admits east prom toilets are not fit for purpose

The campaign took a significant step forward this week when one of the Lib Dem Councillors finally admitted that the temporary toilets on the East Prom are not fit for purpose.  We gave the Lib Dems a demonstration of the problems that people have using the temporary toilets – particularly the fact that it is almost impossible for a lady to close the door in the cubicles in the ladies.

We also managed to see inside the closed toilets on the East Prom and the good news is that they look like they are in pretty good condition.  There will need to be some work in order for them to be re-opened and Brian Hannah, who is the Cabinet Member responsible for toilets, has agreed that the Council needs to get proper estimates so that we can look at whether re-opening the East Prom toilets is going to be a viable option.

public meeting called

One of the outcomes of the meeting last week was that all parties agreed that a public meeting should be called.

The plan is for the meeting to be chaired by the Mayor of Sheringham, Noel Gant and for the District Council officers and councillors to be invited to discuss the issue of toilets with the public.  I have agreed to be at the meeting as has the Sheringham Enhancement Group, the Chamber of Trade, Age Concern and others.

Assuming that the councillors and officers are willing to come along, it will be an opportunity to discuss the issue openly and to hear directly what the Council is going to do to represent us.  We had planned for the meeting to take place on 23 September, but the Council could not make anyone available so we are now looking at earlier October.  More details as soon as they are available.