Stink over beach toilets subsides after clean up

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29: Public toilets at a popular beach have been in an “atrocious” state in peak summer months, the Sun has been told.

A local man said the facilities at Clearwater Beach in St David’s had been inadequate and in a run-down condition for much of the summer — although they have since been spruced up.

He said: “There are toilets at the Gombeys concession – but they’re not accessible to the public. The nearest ones are at the other end of the beach and they were atrocious. The door didn’t lock and it’s a chemical toilet and a lot of the chemicals were spilling out, which is terrible.”

“The other one is at the far end of Clearwater, closer to the car park. That was in a terrible condition, too. It was all vandalized and one day it was taped up and closed altogether.”

The St George’s man — a regular summer visitor to the beach — said his attention was drawn to the problem when he was at the beach earlier this month at the same time as a group of children on a day trip, many of whom had problems finding decent toilet facilities.

He added: “It’s the first thing our tourists are going to see, but locals have to look at it too. When I was there, a lot of the kids had to go in the trees, which is not the best of places... I’m glad they have been cleaned up, but they should never have been allowed to get into that state in the first place. They were in a bad state for most of July and August.”

The man said he was prompted to contact the Bermuda Sun after angry locals at a beach in Adelaide, Australia, staged a sit-down protest on their local beach to complain about poor toilet facilities. A group took toilets on the beach and sat on them reading newspapers to highlight the problem. Our source, who asked not to be named, said: “I thought it was hilarious – but they made their point and got the attention of the government.”

He added that Fort St Catherine, also a popular tourist spot, lacked toilet facilities.

And he said: “There are a lot of big beaches across the island which don’t have adequate facilities either.”

St George’s Mayor Kenneth Bascome said that Clearwater Beach was “outside his remit” – but added he was aware of the problem: “We are having problems with the bathrooms on all the public beaches and it should be dealt with.”

Government was asked about maintenance at the toilets, which is the responsibility of the Parks department, and when the toilet areas had been cleaned up, but had not responded by press time.