Issue - meetings

Cabinet discussed a report that informed members of the progress made against the decision it took on Thursday 14 December 2023to invest £1.25m in public toilets across the district. The report confirmed that all revenue works at the 7 sites proposed in the original report have been completed at a lower cost than anticipated. The budget for these revenue works was £279,000 and the total spend was £186,000. A further 2 sites, Botany Bay public toilets in Broadstairs and Buenos Ayres public toilets in Margate received repairs in addition to the 7 sites and were included in the £186,000 spend.

This left £93,000 of unspent revenue funds that could be reallocated for further public toilets revenue repairs projects. The highest number of red defects left to undertake, those which were the most urgent to complete, were located at Minnis Bay public toilets in Birchington and Victoria Gardens public toilets in Broadstairs. It was therefore proposed to undertake revenue repairs at these locations, as detailed in Appendix 1, using the unspent budget.

The Council also made available a budget of £971k of capital funding towards new build accessible toilets. Cabinet reports had been presented on Thursday 26 September 2024 that ensured officers had permission to undertake the procurement and award of a contract for the capital works to refurbish and build new toilets at Margate Subterranean toilets and Stone Bay, Broadstairs. The Cabinet report in 2023 also factored in £250k of additional external funding from Southern Water. This external funding was earmarked for a new build accessible toilet at Botany Bay, as well as refurbishment of the existing toilets. However, Southern Water had retained this funding and were undertaking this project internally, with support from the Council’s Coast and Engineering team.

In summary works had been undertaken at 9 locations, with further work currently planned at 4 locations based on allocated budgets. Works had been costed at a further 12 toilets and undertaking these improvement works would be subject to future funding being identified within the 2025/26 budget setting process. It was recommended that Cabinet approve that £93k of the original £279k revenue repairs budget be reallocated to the following public toilets as all revenue repair works agreed at Cabinet on Thursday 14 December 2023 have been completed:

• Minnis Bay, Birchington (£50k)
• Victoria Gardens, Broadstairs (£43k)

Councillor Dawson spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1.

Councillor Albon proposed, Councillor Bright seconded and Cabinet agreed the following:

1. To approve that £93k of the original £279k revenue repairs budget be reallocated to the following public toilets as all revenue repair works agreed at Cabinet on Thursday 14 December 2023 have been completed:

a.  Minnis Bay, Birchington (£50k);

b.  Victoria Gardens, Broadstairs (£43k).