Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has been flushed with success after landing the most presitigious prize at the Loo of the Year Awards – England’s rest room Oscars!
Just weeks after eight sets of loos in the Borough achieved the British Toilet Association’s gold standard the Council skipped clean away in the Best Public Toilets in England category.
And it also completed a ‘win double’ by being named in the ‘Premier League’ of the BTA’s new ranking system for local authority public conveniences.
Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste and Transport, Councillor Tony Cox, said: “This is magnificent news!
“The Borough’s public toilets beat off hot competition nationally from around 1,400 other entries.
“Congratulations to the staff from the Council and from our contractors Cory Environmental for continuing to reach such tremendously high standards.
“It’s essential we do our best to ensure residents and visitors feel as comfortable as possible while they’re out and about and top class toilets are of the utmost importance.”
The eight sets of loos which attained the BTA’s gold standard were:
Bell Wharf, Leigh
London Road, Chalkwell
Elm Road, Leigh
Hamlet Court Road Car Park, Westcliff
Marine Parade, Southend
Crowstone Shelter, Southend
Pitman’s Close, Southend and
Sutherland Boulevard, Leigh.
They were assessed by a panel of experts who made unannounced visits to examine them for cleanliness, maintenance, aesthetics, equipment and other features.
As well as successfully panning for signs of gold the inspectors also rated the baby changing and changing places facilities as ‘platinum standard’.
The national Loo of the Year Awards were first launched in 1987 and are currently celebrating their 25th anniversary.
They are organised to encourage the highest possible standards in all types of 'away from home' or public toilets.
