Southend Public Toilets: New Marine Parade Block Proposed

Updated 7 November: the review is now on the agenda for Cabinet on Monday 16 November, with the same recommendations (report to Cabinet). The report adds that both new blocks would be paid for from a £750,000 “Public Toilet Provision” allocation in the capital programme, subject to a business case, and that the changes save £60,000. A staffed High Street toilet is not proposed: officers put a full-time attendant at about £60,000 a year. Chalkwell Esplanade, Belfairs Park and Southchurch Park (Café) are due for refurbishment in 2026/27, and Thorpe Bay Corner and Priory Park in 2027/28.

Southend council officers want to build a new large public toilet block on Marine Parade and a second, smaller one between Thorpe Bay Corner and Marine Parade. The proposals come out of a review of the city’s public toilets that goes to the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday 15 October, before Cabinet decides (Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee, 15 October 2026, agenda).

The review also proposes that every block keeps the same published hours all year, with longer hours in summer, and that the toilets stay free to use. The slides give no cost and no date for either new block.

The seafront is where residents said new toilets were most needed. In the council’s consultation, 94% of respondents said investment in new seafront toilets was important or very important (Public Toilet Review, analysis, March 2026).

What officers propose

The report owner is Mark Murphy, the council’s Head of Property and Estate Management, and the Cabinet member is Cllr Cheryl Nevin, who holds the Civic Pride portfolio (Review of Public Toilets, scrutiny presentation). The presentation lists these proposals:

• a new “large” public toilet block at Marine Parade
• a new “small” block between Thorpe Bay Corner and Marine Parade, if a suitable site can be found
• the council keeps running the toilets itself, with cleaning and light maintenance through South Essex Property Services
• the toilets stay free to use
• every disabled toilet stays on the RADAR key scheme
• more ambulant accessible toilets over time, unisex cubicles alongside separate male and female toilets where feasible, and nappy changing in blocks that do not have it
• the attendant at Three Shells moves to weekends, school holidays and bank holidays in summer, with all-summer attendance moving to George Street and East Beach
• new signs on every block giving its name, opening times and an emergency contact number
• the council’s toilets listed on Google Maps, toiletmap.org.uk and the council’s own website

Three Shells is the beach beside the lagoon the council has been told it may have to remove. We reported the lagoon’s options last week.

The proposed opening hours

Officers want standard summer and winter hours by type of location. Summer runs from 1 April to 30 September and winter from 1 October to 31 March.

Opening hours were one of the three things residents asked the council to prioritise. The other two were cleanliness and maintenance, and more toilet locations.

What residents told the council

The consultation ran from 22 January to 18 March 2026. The council says 1,500 people opened the campaign and 488 answered the survey online. The headline findings:

• 94% said investment in new seafront toilets was important or very important
• 24% said they, or someone they care for, have accessibility needs that affect their use of public toilets
• 33% said their main reason for using a public toilet was exercise or outdoor recreation, such as walking the dog, and 29% said shopping
• the High Street and shopping areas, then the seafront, were the places people most often used public toilets
• most rated the condition of the toilets they had used as adequate, with a minority saying poor
• finding the toilets, and their opening hours, drew the most dissatisfaction

The analysis publishes hundreds of free-text comments in full. Several ask why the toilets at the bottom of Thorpe Hall Avenue close in winter, and several ask for toilets to be open when the shops, the pier and the seafront restaurants have closed.

Work already booked, outside the review

The presentation separates the review from maintenance that is already scheduled:

• refurbishment of the blocks at Chalkwell Esplanade, Belfairs Park and Southchurch Park (by the cafe) in 2026/27
• refurbishment of Thorpe Bay Corner and Priory Park in 2027/28
• a pilot of CCTV cameras at the entrances of four blocks, at George Street, East Beach, Dalmatia Road and Belfairs Park, to tackle vandalism
• a review of lighting inside every block, with lights changed to LED and levels raised where they are too low

What it means for you

Nothing changes yet. The scrutiny committee can comment and make recommendations on Thursday, but it does not decide. The decision sits with Cabinet, and the presentation is marked “pre Cabinet scrutiny”. The next Cabinet meeting after Monday’s is listed for 16 November (Cabinet meetings).

If the standard hours are adopted, the seafront toilets would close at 8pm through the winter and at 10pm in summer. The council has not said which blocks currently close earlier than that. The proposal to list every toilet on Google Maps and toiletmap.org.uk answers the complaint the survey heard most: that people could not find an open toilet when they needed one.

The meeting is at 6.30pm on Thursday 15 October in Committee Room 1 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue. It is webcast. Public questions must be submitted in advance under the council’s rules.

We will report the committee’s recommendations and the Cabinet decision when they are published.