Flattening a decrepit toilet block and replacing it with a seafront café would make a strip of the Herne Bay coast better than Tankerton, a councillor believes.

Canterbury City Council bosses are considering shutting down the Hampton Pleasure Ground loos in Swalecliffe Avenue in a bid to save more than £13,000.

The prospect of the building – which also provides space for the local foreshore team and the town's table tennis club – closing has prompted calls for the site, located next to a play area, to be demolished.

And Cllr Neil Baker thinks a “glass-fronted” café should be erected in its place, in order to draw more visitors to the town.

“Clearly, there’s a ramshackle set of buildings there in a location that could be so much more in terms of a coastal attraction for visitors or residents,” the Tankerton Tory explained.

“I’m not an architect, but just imagine what you could do there with some of the most glorious sunsets in the world, outside of Tankerton, across the bay. There really is potential there.

“You just think with the views you have there, a nice glass-fronted café or anything like that could be really good for the area. There are some existing uses there - like the table tennis club - but it's tatty.

“It’s a play area where in the last few years the equipment’s gone and not been replaced. It’s looking pretty terrible, and it could be an absolute jewel.”

Documents published by the city council state that cuts need to be made to its public loos budget ahead of the next financial year.

The toilets remain closed over the autumn and winter months, while another block in nearby Hampton Pier Avenue is open all-year round.

Despite this, contract costs for the shabby-looking facilities total more than £13,600 per year, excluding utility and external maintenance fees.

Herne and Broomfield councillor Joe Howes (Con) believes new life can be breathed into the site, which possesses views over the north Kent coast.

“There’s the potential to regenerate and repurpose the site,” he added.

“If you had a two-storey building there with a café on the top looking out at those stunning views, it would be absolutely amazing. It would provide a stop-over point for people walking to and from Whitstable.

“Turner I don’t believe painted Tankerton, but he did paint Herne Bay because of the sunset and sunrises, so it might make Studd Hill slightly better than Tankerton and Swalecliffe.”

Councillors voted in favour of taking the first steps towards shutting the Hampton Pleasure toilets last Wednesday, by agreeing to launch a public consultation into the planned closure.