Teignmouth is likely to be without public toilets on the Den, close to the busy seafront and town centre, for several weeks just as the busy summer season kicks off.

Planning permission for the temporary toilet block that has been on the Den for the past two years is only in place until March 31. Teignbridge District Council has confirmed that it ‘does not currently intend to extend its temporary planning consent’ for the toilets on the Den in Teignmouth.

The temporary toilets were installed on the Den in October 2022 to bridge the gap between the loss of the old facilities, when the former Beachcomber was renovated, and the construction of new toilets by Teignmouth Town Council on the site of the former aquarium near the pier.

Although demolition work at the aquarium site took place last June, construction of the new toilets is yet to start and Teignmouth Town Council only agreed on a preferred contractor at its January full council meeting.

Teignmouth Town Council is hopeful that it will finally get its new toilets built in the very near future. Meetings with the preferred contractor, who are yet to be officially named, took place last week to finalise timings for the construction programme.

Teignmouth Town Council clerk Iain Wedlake said: ‘‘There may be some opportunities to speed up the construction timetable for the toilets on the Den’.

‘We are pushing the need to move as quickly as we can,’ reassured Teignmouth mayor Cate Williams.

Unlike many other towns in Teignbridge, the public toilets in Teignmouth are under the jurisdiction of Teignmouth Town Council rather than Teignbridge District Council.

Teignmouth Town Council hopes investing in state-of-the-art facilities will ensure the town is unaffected by potential cuts in facilities at District level. In November, Teignbridge launched a consultation on the future of its 30 public toilets with fears raised over the future of public toilets in many towns in the area, including Newton Abbot, Dawlish and Starcross.

As well as building new toilets on the site of the former aquarium, Teignmouth Town Council plans to construct public loos in the Eastcliff car park and Quay car park and to refurbish toilets on Lower Brook Street and at the Point car park.

However, the town’s toilets projects have been plagued by delays. Teignmouth Town Council received planning permission for all five proposed toilet blocks before the end of 2022 and said it had the budget and resources in place to start work in 2023. However, it claims that a review of the project by Teignbridge District Council pushed the proposed start date back by a year. The seafront toilets were due to be built in the autumn.

The new facilities will be ‘pay-to-pee’ with users able to pay via contactless card or, for those who predominantly use cash, by purchasing a prepay card from local shops, cafes or pubs.

All the toilets will be gender neutral with fully enclosed cubicles containing a toilet as well as hand washing and drying facilities. Customers will be able to see if cubicles are free via a series of lights above the doors.