Petition launched against the closure of Devonshire Square toilets, and other toilets, in Bexhill in East Sussex

In this video, Andrew Crotty and Stephen Pariser, who launched the petition, explain more.

Transcript

00:00 Basically the toilets are closed now, so people have come here, read the signs, got angry,

00:05 asked me where the toilets are, so I've told them either the library or down the toilets

00:10 down by Channel View East, and even the gentleman said sometimes they're closed as well.

00:16 So really it's against human rights.

00:20 There is a gentleman who's put in a claim against the Rovendish Council saying that

00:24 this is unlawful, and we will be awaiting to see what the verdict is on that one.

00:29 So we're signing petitions, we've got over nearly, probably about 600 now signatures

00:35 from people who I think this is a disgrace.

00:38 I had a gentleman come past me and try to use the disabled toilets with a radar key,

00:42 and even that's locked.

00:44 So he's, they're not happy, businesses are not happy that they're going to have to take

00:49 the strain, but the council just seems to think it's okay because there's actually no

00:54 end date on the date where it says there's a trial.

00:59 And so a lot of the public and a lot of the businesses are not happy with Rova because

01:03 it's just, they just killed the town off basically.

01:07 There are two courts.

01:11 There is the court of public opinion, and we estimate, although it's still to be counted,

01:21 that we'd have possibly 600 signatures, and we could have had double that.

01:29 The other court is the court of law, and my son is a human rights lawyer, and he says

01:41 I as a disabled person, which I am, would have good grounds for starting an action for

01:52 indirect disability discrimination under the Human Rights Act.

02:02 And if the council don't back down, his firm would be prepared to take the case on, on

02:13 a pro bono basis.

02:17 In other words, they would bankroll the actual action, so I wouldn't have to pay anything.

02:26 The scenario is that obviously Bexhill Town Council, still speaking to Rova, Bexhill Town

02:32 Council wanted to take on the toilets freehold because that's what we had in 1974.

02:39 We had them as freehold.

02:40 We gave them to Rova for nothing.

02:43 Rova are now telling Bexhill Town Council that they want to get in, surveyors in to

02:50 see how much it charges and then give charges the full rate for the toilets.

02:56 So Bexhill Town Council would like to have the toilets as an asset to the community of

03:01 Bexhill.

03:03 This toilet in Dempshire Square is owned by Network Rail, so we're hoping that Bexhill

03:08 Town Council will start negotiating with Network Rail on a lease for these toilets because

03:13 the ones in Dempshire Square, the ones in Sidley and the one in Little Common Roundabout

03:18 are desperately needed to be reopened because they're the only toilets for around the community.