East Cambridgeshire District Council has made the difficult decision to temporarily close the public toilets on Fountain Lane, Soham, after the cleaner was threatened by a gang of youths.

The toilets were only reopened on Wednesday after repairs were carried out following mindless vandalism of the public facility.

However, while the cleaner was inside the toilets around 6.30pm on Wednesday, four male youths forcibly kicked open the main door. When she asked them to leave she was verbally abused.

Lis Every, who chairs the Community Safety Partnership and is a district councillor, said: “This behaviour is disgraceful. Not only do we have this much needed community facility being repeatedly vandalised, but employees are now being threatened.

“Sadly, the Council has had to make the difficult decision to close the toilets until measures can be put in place to address this senseless issue once and for all.”

The District Council is liaising directly with the CSP, the police, the town council, the school and other stakeholders to come up with urgent solutions to address this, including the possibility of installing CCTV.

The CSP is also working on broader initiatives to help provide more opportunities for young people in the town. Last summer it carried out surveys among young people using the recreation ground and based on this feedback is providing funding, along with Living Sport, to support weekly Youth Takeover days at Soham Town Rangers Football Club.

These events – which are run by young people for young people – are part of an initiative to make community facilities more accessible to teenagers, at a time when they are currently not being used. 

 More information on the Youth Takeover days is available on Soham Town Rangers Supporters Group Facebook page.

Anyone who has any information or has witnessed the vandalism is asked to contact Cambridgeshire Police on 101 or CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111.