Car park and toilets in storm-hit village reopen

Zhara SimpsonDevon
News imageSouth Hams District Council The public toilets at Torcross in Devon. The building is stone and there is a ladies sign to the left of the door. There is a parking machine next to the sign and on the other side is a sign. South Hams District Council
The facilities at Torcorss are open again after the area was hit hard by storms

Public toilets and a car park in a seaside village have reopened after they were damaged in severe weather.

South Hams District Council (SHDC) said its teams cleaned and repaired the Torcross Tank Car Park and public toilets after sea defences failed during recent storms.

The A379 Slapton Line, which is next to the car park, remains closed after parts of it collapsed into the sea.

The authority said its teams had been "deeply involved" in helping village communities clean up after the storms by removing waste, clearing storm debris and street cleansing.

News imageAn aerial view of the A379 Slapton Line. It shows damage to the road and the Tank Car Park.
Parts of the Torcross Tank Car Park collapsed into the sea

With the car park reopen, district council leader Dan Thomas encouraged people to support businesses in the area throughout the half term and the weeks beyond to help them through this "difficult period".

"The response to the situation at Torcross has been swift, and this has been crucial to ensure that all the agencies involved can support local people throughout this situation," he said.

Julian Brazil, lead member for community services and operations at SHDC, said it had taken a "huge amount of hard work" to reopen the toilets and car park.

"I'd like to thank everyone involved for pulling together in such a fantastic team effort, and thank you to the local community for their patience while we carried out the essential works needed to get these facilities reopened," he said.

The council said other areas such as the green at nearby Beesands remained closed and it asked people to "use their common sense and stay away from these areas, including avoiding climbing over the rock barrier".

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