ePetition - Reopen toilets Victoria Recreation Ground, Portslade
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ePetition details
Reopen toilets Victoria Recreation Ground, Portslade
These facilities have been closed for several years, yet a
council inspection has confirmed they are still useable. Each week,
hundreds of people visit the recreation ground, including many
participating in organised football matches. Players—men,
women, and children—often travel significant distances to
take part, accompanied by supporters. However, the nearest public
toilets are an 11-minute walk away, creating unnecessary
inconvenience. The absence of accessible toilets discourages
participation in healthy outdoor activities and there is a public
health risk with the amount of human excrement accumulating behind
trees and bushes. Restoring this essential facility would greatly
benefit the local community and visitors alike.
This ePetition ran from 14/04/2025 to 09/07/2025 and has now finished.
25 people signed this ePetition.
Council response
Response provided by the Cabinet Member for Net Zero & Environmental Services at Full Council on Thursday 10 July 2025:
Thanks for being here Liz, really good to see that petition getting so many signatures and I can certainly report that the ward councillors in the area have been lobbying on your behalf as well for some time. You are absolutely right to highlight how important our public toilets are to our residents and visitors and I’m extremely proud of our record. Since being elected in 2023, we’ve reopened 12, refurbished 9 and changed the opening hours so that some sites that were previously closed over the winter are now open year-round.
But we’re not done yet and I’m pleased to announce that we will be reopening the toilet at Victoria Recreation Ground and we’re now scheduling the necessary work. This move will also see some additional resources brought in to the team to make sure we are maintaining other sites in the west of the city, including the very busy new facility at Hove Beach Park, and maintaining this to the highest standards.
I do need to manage expectations a little bit and say that the work to get them ready and to recruit and train the staff will take a little bit of time. We will go as quickly as we can but it’s probably unlikely that they’ll be open until towards the end of the year. We are working on bringing that forward as quickly as we can.
Ultimately, the return of this facility to Victoria Park will make it that much easier for local communities to get outside, enjoy the outdoors and participate in sports and other activities. I was actually there myself yesterday and it was fairly quiet at that time – it was in the morning – but I could imagine it full of people playing football and everything and obviously those facilities are extremely important.
This is, Madame Mayor, the latest in a long string of demonstrations of our commitment to ensure that all of our residents and visitors can enjoy our city with the peace of mind that the facilities they need are available.