PEOPLE “won’t leave their homes” because of the stress of trying to find a public toilet in Southend, it has been claimed.

Green Party member, Simon Gittus, is leading calls for more toilets to be installed after claiming a shortage is putting residents off, and leading to visitors defecating in gardens along the seafront.

The concern was raised during a full Southend Council meeting, with councillor for community safety, Martin Terry, responding to say the local authority has “200 toilets across over 15 locations” in the city, but keeping toilets open “24-hours-a-day” may be a solution.

However, Independent councillor Ron Woodley has backed the call and said the Thorpe Bay area and Eastern Esplanade particularly suffer from a lack of toilets.

In the meeting, Mr Gittus said lives were being affected by the state of public toilets. He said: “These include people with mental or physical disabilities and their carers, the infirm or elderly, people with babies or young children, and people of all ages who are coping with a range of medical conditions.

“Southend has inadequate toilet provisions causing anxiety to visitors to our city. I have heard some of our residents won’t even leave their houses due to the stress of trying to find a loo in our city centre.”

Mr Gittus added: “Residents, especially along the seafront and on roads near to the city centre, will often suffer anti-social behaviour through people using their gardens and alleys as a toilet.”

Mr Woodley, who has campaigned on the issue previously, said: “We need more toilets along Thorpe Bay and Eastern Esplanade for sure. There’s lots of toilets along the western side, but we’re very limited in the east of the city. It does deter people from going for a walk and we want people to walk, especially as they get older. They need that gentle exercise. If you don’t have the facilities it puts people off.”

Mr Woodley added: “Eastern Esplanade is getting more and more popular and they start using gardens. We’ve also had defecation on the beach itself.”

In response to Mr Gittus’s question, Mr Terry said: “The council currently provides approximately 200 toilets across more than 15 locations in the city including our parks.

“We also provide additional portable toilets at key locations like the seafront. Provision of toilets available 24-hours-a-day would need to be considered in the context of the council’s ongoing financial challenge, as well as the safety issues. But your concerns about appropriate accessible toilets are noted.”