Kelsey Park Beckenham toilets branded disgusting by locals

Beckenham residents have criticised the public toilets in Kelsey Park, with councillors pushing for greater accessibility for toilets across Bromley borough.

Kim Osborne, 66, lives in Shortlands and uses Kelsey Park every day to walk her dog.

She said the building for the toilets in the park looks “very tired” and the facilities would benefit from a full refit.

The Kelsey Park toilets

Ms Osborne told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I use them all the time. First thing in the morning is best because they do get cleaned so that’s when I use them if I do because they’re pretty awful as the day goes on. I wouldn’t go in the toilets later on in the day.”

Lib Dem Councillor Chloe-Jane Ross, representing the Beckenham Town & Copers Cope for Bromley Council, said the state of the toilets in Kelsey Park had declined in the past 20 years.

She said she recalled when people would come from other boroughs to visit the area, which she said was previously the “flagship park” of Bromley.

Cllr Ross told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “It’s not the standard of toilet facilities you’d expect in a really busy park.

"It’s not really just an issue of cleanliness, it looks like they’ve been cleaned, they’re just really dilapidated and need a full upgrade. This is not somewhere you want to bring your small child into or put your baby down. It just looks really rundown and like nobody’s cared for it for a long time.”

She added: “I know a lot of older people, some in my family, who before they go on trips, they actually work out where the loo is, where they’re going to go and they don’t go somewhere if they can’t see whether good quality public toilets are available.

"That’s stopping people going to certain towns and parks and areas. That’s crazy.”

Cllr Ross said the park’s volunteers and the Friends of Kelsey Park group do an amazing job maintaining the space, and that more investment was needed in the facilities from the council as a whole.

Lib Dem Councillor Will Connolly put forward a motion at a Bromley Council meeting on October 16 to increase the number of public toilets across the borough and make residents more aware of the facilities available.

Jane Davis, 58, lives in Beckenham and visits Kelsey Park every few days to walk her dog.

The resident often visits several different parks around the borough and would like to see toilets in other green spaces such as Harvington Sports Grounds opened up, as well as improving the facilities in Kelsey Park.

Ms Davis told the LDRS: “The loos here are not great. You can take the dog in, that’s useful, but they’re pretty disgusting.”

She added: “They should tidy up the loos here. They have usually got loo paper but there’s very rarely any soap and they’re not always clean.”

Conservative Councillor Colin Smith, leader of Bromley Council, said at the meeting on October 16 that he agreed with Cllr Connolly that several public toilets across the borough were in a “disgusting” state.

He added that information on the council website would be updated and officers would inspect the signage directing residents to toilets in Bromley.

Conservative Councillor Yvonne Bear, cabinet member for renewal, recreation and housing, said at the meeting that public toilet facilities were currently being added to libraries in Bromley.

She also said that six new accessible Changing Places toilets would be added across the borough as part of a £400,000 grant the authority had received.

Cllr Bear added: “We do recognise the importance of public toilets to people’s experience of the facilities whether it be parks or whether it be leisure centres and we are consequently working with partners across the borough, with any that are willing, to accept the Changing Places facility.”

Bromley Council was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.