'Horrible and broken' toilets to get £250k upgrade

Public toilets branded horrible, dirty and broken by some people are to be upgraded at the cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

A St Brelade Parish Assembly has approved plans to upgrade the toilets at the Elephant Park, in Jersey. Constable Mike Jackson said the toilet block had got to the point of being "unusable".

The cost of refurbishing the toilet block, as part of wider plans, was reduced from proposals first put forward in 2023. The revised plans would cost about £250,000, those behind proposals said.

Some park users said improving the facilities should be a priority, while others voiced concerns over the cost.

Parent Laura de la Cour said: "[The toilets] are horrible, they look dirty, they're broken, they're old.

"I don't think they've changed in years and they're just not nice to use at all, they don't seem very hygienic."

She said she did not want her children to use the toilets and in the past her family had to leave the park early because of it.

De la Cour also posted her thoughts on Facebook and said comments on the post said the Elephant Park had "the worst toilets in the island".

She added "I actually haven't come across anyone who disagrees with me".

Claudia Mendez, who has two children, said the toilets were "in a total state of disrepair, it's really disappointing".

She said: "They don't work, they don't flush properly and the hand-washing facilities never work."

Both women said they would rather change their babies' nappies outside on the ground than use the "filthy" baby-changing table.

Kim Cope, St Brelade resident, said: "I'm in support of the upgrade but £250,000 for a toilet block is crazily expensive.

"I've just built an extension on our home with one bedroom, a bathroom and a utility room from scratch and it cost way less than that. All they have to do is convert some toilet blocks."

Jackson said the cost of refurbishments had decreased since 2023 because the last assembly held for parishioners indicated a lower price was needed and the plans had been changed.

He said the money for the upgrade would come from the parish's property reserve fund, which was paid into by parish rates.

He added that if the assembly had not approved plans he would have considered closing the block, and replaced them with portable loos.

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