The council has confirmed that the ‘pay as you go’ public toilet at the Triangle is to close at the end of the month.

 

The shared use automatic public facility, which apparently offers free access with a RADAR key, is the only public loo at the Triangle.

Councillor Jacqui Rayment, cabinet member for place and transport and deputy leader at Southampton City Council, said:

“A decision has been made to remove three public toilets from the wards of Bitterne Park, Bargate and Woolston. These toilets were put in place as part of an outdoor advertising contract with JC Decaux which started in 2000 and has now ended.

“We do hope that the impact will be minimal and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience this causes.”

They're taking the piss.

— Paul Jenks (@hillsidepaul) December 20, 2019

Bitterne Park councillor Ivan White said he hadn’t been aware of the closure, but that public toilets are important, and if the closure was permanent he would be “disappointed”.

Toilets at the Riverside Park pavilion

The next nearest public toilets are at some considerable walking distance away at the Riverside Park pavilion changing rooms, but these are only open to the public when a groundsperson is present.

“If they are left open they are vandalised, and then we don’t get them at all,” confirmed Friends of Riverside Park chair Doug Perry.

“If a groundsman is on from from seven in the morning till half past three, they would be open,” he said.

pretty disgraceful that the nearest public toilet for the whole of #RiversidePark will be in in Portswood's Sainsburys, according to (outdated) https://t.co/QbIsMJkId9 . Bet the local BPT cafes are going to be annoyed by yet more non-customer invasion?

— Dr Badcrumble (@DrBadcrumble) December 20, 2019