Bognor Regis residents forced to use Tesco toilets for two years due to overflowing cesspool

Residents of the Old Canal caravan park on Lidsey Road are reportedly having to use a nearby Tesco as their toilet, due to issues with a main cesspool used on the site, according to a representative for one of the park’s residents, Mr Rogers.

At Arun District Council’s licensing committee meeting on Friday, February 23, he told members there had been issues with drainage on the site for around two years, and that the council’s response so far had been a ‘shocking delay’.

He said the council promised to commission a drainage survey of the site to help find and fix the problem last summer, as the caravan park owner could not do it themselves, asking them whether they had completed it yet.

He said: “In this day and age it is not reasonable to expect residents on site to have to go and use the toilets in Tesco.”

Licensing committee chair Billy Blanchard-Cooper (LDem, Beach) spoke on behalf of the council with a prepared response, stating ‘unfortunately’ they had not commissioned the survey yet as they had been focusing on ‘other enforcement issues’.

He said: “It has also proven difficult to obtain quotes for this work. As this has not yet been commissioned we are unable to provide a timescale for when this will be completed. However, now legal advice has been obtained this will be progressed.

Mr Rogers, who used to be an environmental officer at the council, also asked about enforcement against a ‘defective’ sewage treatment plant on the site, which was ‘discharging’ into the Old Canal behind the site.

Mr Blanchard-Cooper said the council had issued an enforcement notice about the plant, but this had not been complied with by the site owner, stating the council had sought legal advice on the case but could not yet disclose any further information.

Trevor Bence (Con, Aldwick East), who is the West Sussex county councillor for the area, said all the affected ditches and canals feed into Aldingbourne Rife, which could impact many more residents than just the caravan park.

He said: “There needs to be very strong liaison between West Sussex County Council and the highways, because this particular site sits lower on that Lidsey bend than the highway itself.

“It is subject to flooding, and if we are discharging from that site into the canal, then that becomes a serious concern for all residents in Bognor Regis and the surrounding area.”

The council’s group head of technical services, Nat Slade, said at the meeting: “We have found there are breaches of the site licence conditions, and we are taking enforcement action to ensure that the residents of the site have the amenities that they need.”