ePetition - Toilets at Black Rock
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ePetition details
Toilets at Black Rock
Despite asking BHCC to ensure that there are sufficient toilet facilities at Black Rock, there are still none.
Southern Water are in the process of upgrading the Black Rock building, with Volks Railway open with tourists ending / starting their journey there.
The Sea Lanes to Marina area of Black Rock is getting busier every week, however there is a severe lack of accessible toilets in the area for residents and visitors alike, with coaches often unloading their passengers around that area.
The local businesses are suffering as visitors demand use of their facilities, which are often not suitable for the numbers required, as well as those who are sleeping in vans along the seafront using these facilities for cleaning themselves in the morning.
We demand that BHCC sort out this situation as a matter or urgency and ensure temporary toilets are located in the Black Rock Volks Railway area suitable for all.
This ePetition ran from 30/05/2025 to 25/06/2025 and has now finished.
6 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:
I just want to refute the point about ward councillors who have been in regular contact with me about this facility. I don’t know if the petitioner missed my response to the previous petition, but yes we did chastise the Greens back in 2023 for closing toilets, and quite rightly, and I think we’ve been vindicated by how many we’ve reopened, refurbished and clearly we are committed to providing these facilities for our residents, so I don’t think you can credibly suggest otherwise to be frank.
The toilets at Black Rock are the property of Southern Water, as you quite rightly point out, and clearly just like you we’d hoped that they would have been reopened faster than they have been. Ward councillors, as I say, in Kemp Town have been applying pressure to Southern Water directly and also keeping me in the loop and I’m very well aware of the need for these facilities to be restored in this busy part of the seafront.
Work is due to begin on the site next week and we’re in contact with Southern Water to ensure that the toilet facilities are prioritised within the programme of work. As I’m sure you know, they’re also refurbishing the ticket office for the Volks Railway so we’re applying maximum pressure on Southern Water to make sure that they get the toilet ready for us to reopen as a priority within that. We’re obviously also pushing for an updated timeline.
In the meantime, we are looking at whether there’s options for some kind of temporary provision, but obviously that will depend on what the cost and the realities of that provision is and also what the timeline is from Southern Water. But, as I say, we’re absolutely clearly committed to providing this facility in that part of the city, just like we are in every other part of the city, and I can assure you, as you probably noticed from my comments already, that we will keep applying pressure and keep treating this as a priority.