by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporter.
Card payment charges are set to be introduced at another public loo in Weymouth town centre as part of a refurbishment scheme for the Grade II listed Maiden Street conveniences.
The payment decision has already sparked a public petition to encourage Weymouth Town Council to change its policy over using card-system charging for its public loos in the town.
The latest loo for a proposed make-over, coupled with a card-charging machines, is the ground-floor toilets at 40 Maiden Street, on the corner of Maiden Street and St Edmund Street, a building also known as the RAFA Club, itself a grade 2 listed building.
The plans, submitted to Dorset Council, include a reconfiguration of the internal layout to provide modern fittings and finishes, an accessible WC, baby-changing cubicles in both the ladies’ and gents’ facilities, new extract fans, a suspended ceiling and a contactless payment entry system.
External changes would include replacing existing doors with black aluminium roller shutters set within the door reveals, retaining the louvres above, removing door frames to improve wheelchair access, and adding extract fan outlets to two existing windows.
Documents submitted with the application say most of the work would be internal and would have no impact on the significance of the listed building. They acknowledge that the proposed shutters may amount to “less than substantial harm”, but argue this is outweighed by public benefits including better accessibility, hygiene and visitor experience.
The site is within Weymouth Town Centre Conservation Area, where the proposals are said to respect traditional materials and detailing while maintaining the historic character of the area.
The application is listed under reference P/LBC/2026/03595.
The petition to reverse the Weymouth Town Council decision on toilet charges can be found at https://www.change.org/p/reverse-decision-on-toilet-charges-in-weymouth.
At the time of writing it had attracted almost 2,000 signatures.
