Sadgebore District Council has announced that there is one day left to tender applications to renovate the public inconveniencies on the seafront in Smalltown.
The toilets – which are closer to the Witherspoons pub than the pub’s own toilets – are due for an upgrade, so that people using them no longer have to draw water from a well to wash their hands.
Sadgebore are offering £94,000 to the successful applicant. Cllr. Mike Wheely Executive Member for Public Inconveniencies said “Whilst this may seem like an awful lot of money to refurbish the toilet facilities it should be noted that, in line with other works carried out in the area, it costs a lot to ensure a sloppy and shoddy job. You only have to look at the recent ‘make do and mend’ job carried out on the lighting columns to realise that a bad job costs money. I know some people have said that for the amount of money refurbishment will cost we could have knocked them down and rebuilt them for half the money, but that is incorrect as rebuilding would incur a cost of £940,000.”
It is hoped that the work will commence in January and it is highly likely that the project won’t be finished in time for the summer and will come in over budget. Cllr. Wheely commented “Holidaymakers and Witherspoons customers will just have to cross their legs until then.”