Weymouth church passage becomes a latrine (From Dorset Echo)
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Weymouth church passage becomes a latrine
12:00pm Saturday 4th September 2010 in
SHOP owners and parishioners claimed they have been left feeling physically sick after their walkway was used as a toilet.
The passage under the steps of Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Street, Weymouth, has been used into an open air latrine after the closure of the nearby public toilets.
Since the facilities were closed two weeks ago people have been urinating and defecating in the walkway next to the doorway into the crypt.
The Rev Richard Franklin said that the situation had become a serious problem.
He said: “It was so bad on Sunday I felt physically sick and that was just from the smell. It’s pretty grim.”
“We have always had a problem but the closure of the toilets has made it much worse.”
He added: “Perhaps there may be a case for closing off the walkway area but then it is a public right of way and it might involve a lot of legislation.”
The walkway is used for the Sunday school children as an access route to the church and if the crypt needs to be accessed by disabled visitors.
Former councillor Peter Rendell wrote to Weymouth and Portland Borough Council to complain and to try and get the area cleaned.
He said: “If you don’t have public toilets, people will go anywhere they can.
“Most people don’t want to but they are really desperate.
“Some people may have an illness which means that they have to plan their day around visits to the public toilets.”
The walkway under the church steps is also used by traders to get to their stock rooms on the other side.
Sales assistant at Weymouth Angling Centre Tom Haigh said: “I try to hold my breath for as long as possible when I have to go thorough there.
“The fact you have to walk past it and through it all, it’s just disgusting.
“Customers have been complaining about it.”
Director of Weymouth Angling Centre Andrew Selby, 49, said that the stench was unacceptable.
He said: “It’s affecting my business because of the smell. It’s a health issue, it’s disgusting.”
Comments(6)
X Old Bill
says...
7:10pm Sat 4 Sep 10
It was realised that this was a bad idea for the public health and the public toilet came into being. These were effective and convenient (Hence the euphemism - Public Convenience).
The modern trend in many towns seems to be to close public toilets, on grounds of cost usually. So we have gone full circle.
On one side the cost of maintaining a necessary public facility on the other side the cost of clearing up the mess - So which is most cost effective? The one that the local authority can ignore is obviously cheaper for now, but for how long can it continue?
Maybe we should look at the 'continental' system of employing a caretaker and charging an appropriate fee for use, to cover costs.
weymouthfox
says...
7:34pm Sat 4 Sep 10
As Old Bill says, this is actually a public health issue- this is why public toilets were brought in originally. There has to be a risk of disease from defecating in public. It will surely cost the council more to constantly clear it up than to provide the basic facilities that every civilised society has.
What have we come to when millions are being spent on doubtful road improvements, yet desperate people have to use the church passage as the council have closed the lav. Its about time all the councillors were sacked.
Scolopax
says...
8:22pm Sat 4 Sep 10
Islandjim
says...
2:13pm Sun 5 Sep 10
Scolopax wrote:Agreed.
If the toilets were open the same low-life would vandalise them and what's wrong with using the toilets in the pubs/bars where they buy their drink! There's no excuse.
And anyway, there's enough toilets around Weymouth in pubs, debenhams, brewers quay...without the council having to spend money they haven't got keeping there outdated cesspit open.
notreally
says...
12:43pm Mon 6 Sep 10
weymouthfox wrote:Dear Mr Fox,
Closing public toilets can only make this problem worse. Have a look around the closed toilet on the Pleasure Pier and you see a similar situation. As Old Bill says, this is actually a public health issue- this is why public toilets were brought in originally. There has to be a risk of disease from defecating in public. It will surely cost the council more to constantly clear it up than to provide the basic facilities that every civilised society has. What have we come to when millions are being spent on doubtful road improvements, yet desperate people have to use the church passage as the council have closed the lav. Its about time all the councillors were sacked.
If you think they should be 'sacked' then why don't you vote for somebody else when the elections come up? The millions of pounds you speak of reside in the coffers of Dorset County Council, and so could never be used to relieve our current toilet troubles. I agree with Ian James - this is clearly the work of serial street defecators with low morals and loose bowels. There are two types of people in this life - those who s*** in alleys, and those who just...don't, and unfortunately there's nothing you or I can do to stop that, unless we buy shares in adult-sized Pampers and hand them out in local taverns at drinking up time.
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RobinofLocksley says...
5:54pm Sat 4 Sep 10