The toilet block in Maidstone's Mote Park to be refurbished at cost of £250k
Published: 17:48, 09 April 2023
Updated: 17:59, 09 April 2023
Mote Park's old kiosk and toilet block could be given a refresh.
The scheme is separate from the new £2.5m cafe in Maidstone's biggest park, that opened today, Easter Sunday.
There is already a toilet block in the park, but it is in poor condition and has been subject to anti-social behaviour.
The kiosk hasn't been used since at least 2017.
But Maidstone council said that the growing number of visitors to the park made the provision of toilets in the northern end of the park essential.
At the same time, the park's nearby water sports centre is lacking in changing facilities.
Furthermore, the volunteers of the Mote Park Fellowship, who help maintain the park, lost their meeting hut when it was demolished to make way for the new cafe.
It is thought that the refurbished kiosk block could also include provision for the volunteers, which would be beneficial as: "The fellowship would be good custodians for the building and would help dissuade anti-social behaviour."
Furthermore the Cygnet Model Boat Club needs a space to store its equipment.
All this has led the council to propose refurbishing the block to incorporate two individual step-free unisex toilets, changing rooms for the water sports centre, community space for the Mote Park Fellowship and storage for the Cygnets Model Boat Club.
Although no catering would be provided within the building, electrical outlets would be installed so that mobile catering could be deployed on a temporary basis without the need for generators.
The project is expected to cost £250,000.
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Alan Smith