Why shut main toilets in centre?

Swan Walk have again shut the main toilets leaving just four disabled toilets to be used by men and women.

I asked why and was told they had furloughed the staff as most shops are closed and would not be needed.

The centre is still very busy as many more shops are open during this lockdown.

I have used the disable toilets a few times since the second lockdown and always find a queue of between six and 12 people waiting, people do not social distance as there are not really the correct signs and markers to guide them.

The toilets are, to be honest quite disgusting many times the toilet seat is wet with ???. The floors are wet around the floor of the toilet pan!

Yesterday the soap tray front had fallen down and seemed to be broken so no soap was available for hand washing . I did call them on the intercom about this and they said they would attend to the issue.

The main toilets are more hygienic as no contact is required after washing / drying hands to exit, using the diabled toilets takes away the freedom for diasabled people to access freely.

The other issue is there is nowhere to hang coats or bags and who would want to put a handbag/shopping bag on a wet floor?

I find it difficult to queue for 20 minutes as has happened this week as I suffer with MS and as a walking person do not need a disable toilet just a comfortable environment with the facilities normally provided.

I know the government said that public toilets should stay open during the second lockdown so why would the centre think they are justified in closing them!

The amount of traffic in the centre warrants the main toilets to be open. There are two cafes open for takeaways and this generates a lot of traffic with people standing around drink their coffee / eating the snacks purchased.

Also the are many people collecting their ‘click and collect parcels’ from closed stores in addition to all the essential shops that are open. It is very busy in the centre. KATHYHUNTER RushamsRoad,

Horsham

A spokesman for Swan Walk confirmed that as throughout the last lockdown when all other facilities were closed, toilets for all continue to be available in the centre. The government guidelines that all councils should open their public toilets this time was very much welcomed as Horsham District Council’s facilities in Piries Place and The Forum are also available to town centre customers during this lockdown.

developers and WSCC to review the situation, so far to no avail. As two local district and parish councillors, we will continue to try to rectify the situation, but we have little hope of a removal of the ban.

Districtcouncillor forHolbrookWest

I am absolutely appalled by Highways England’s choice of the grey route for the A27 Arundel bypass.

This route is quite simply an act of absolute vandalism and will blight the lives, homes and businesses of scores people living in Tortington, Binsted and Walberton.

This route is not only massively over budget (estimated £384 million!), but also the longest and most damaging.

It is beyond belief that it was ever being considered, let alone chosen. Significantly, it is also the route which had the least support when Highways England went to public consultation, no doubt at huge cost to us, the taxpayers! What an abysmal exercise in cynical tickboxing.

I have lived in this area all my life, and in Binsted and Walberton for 35 of those years. I cannot tell you how distressing the prospect of these lovely villages being cleaved by the grey route.

It is an area close to my heart and a favourite place to walk my dog and find peace with nature. It will do untold damage to a beautiful area and to Binsted in particular, which has been a hamlet for at least 1,000 years and currently remains unspoilt by the ravages of modern living.

This type of road building, and covering the countryside in tarmac, is totally unsustainable with climate change an increasingly urgent reality.

Statistics also show that numbers of young people taking their driving tests and owning cars is falling and with that in mind, road building of this scale and cost is completely unnecessary.

Far better to spend the money on public transport and cycle routes, which are utterly woeful everywhere, but particularly in these rural areas.

There is absolutely no justification for the cost, both financially and environmentally, in the wholesale destructive impact of the grey route.

This decision is certain to be fought every step of the way and I would implore everyone to support the Arundel Alternative (ArundelAlternative.org), which uses the existing route to far better effect at a fraction of the cost.

KARENMASON MillLane Walberton