Residents on Three Fields Estate, Tenterden, hit out after portable loo put in parking space
15:03, 15 June 2022
updated: 20:01, 15 June 2022
Angry residents have hit out after a developer placed a portable toilet in one of their parking spaces.
Taylor Wimpey has been forced to backtrack just days after residents on the Three Fields Estate in Tenterden woke up to find a toilet cabin less than two metres away from their windows.
The portable waste system is understood to have been placed in Bishop's Crescent by developers Taylor Wimpey, which owns the parking spaces.
It has been serving builders who have been working on a separate part of the estate, and was due to remain in the space for a further three weeks.
However, it is now set to be removed after being slammed by residents in the cul-de-sac, who said that they were not consulted or informed of the decision.
Allison Kemsley-Allsopp described the move as "unbelievably inconsiderate"
"The work is on a completely different side of the estate, and there are several points where the toilet could be kept and not negatively impact anyone," she said.
"As it is, we are unable to open our windows with the heat because the smell is so bad.
"They could have at the very least placed it on the other side of the car park, away from the houses!"
Fellow resident Fiona Eldridge added: "We have at least three families with children that have to walk straight past that every day to get to school.
"It cannot be sanitary, and it cannot have been the only place that they could have put this."
It is understood that while Taylor Wimpey own the parking spaces, it rents them to West Kent Housing, to whom the residents pay service charges.
Fiona Eldridge questioned whether this meant the developers truly had the right to use the
"From what I have been told it means facilities we assumed to be ours to use could be rescinded at any time," she added.
Cllr Callum Knowles (Ind), who represents the area on Ashford Borough Council, said that he was "horrified" to learn of the incident.
"With the residents paying service charge to West Kent Housing, who then rent the spaces from Taylor Wimpey, it very much appears that they have been paying for the privalege of having someone else's toilet dumped outside their front door," he said.
"It is absolutely horrifying, I cannot understand the gall of the developers to push this on the residents who pay for those spaces."
Following backlash from residents and councillors, KentOnline now understands that the developer will now be moving the toilet block to an alternative site.
A Taylor Wimpey spokeswoman said: "We apologise to residents for any inconvenience and can confirm that the welfare unit will be removed from the development on Thursday June 16."
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