Letter: Defending our New Forest toilet heroes

AS a Brockenhurst resident I completely support the action of David Bennett and Adam Parker in painting over the graffiti on the walls of the men’s public toilet in our village (A&T 9th Aug).

I cannot believe that our local council would prefer to keep the obscenities on the walls throughout the tourist season, rather than trying to do something themselves to remove it, even if it was only a temporary action.

These days red tape causes delays and extra costs to so many problems that could be solved more quickly and efficiently without it, as well as the additional ‘risk assessments’ that everything has to have.

Surely we are allowed to use our common sense sometimes?

Name and address supplied

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WHEN I read the response by the Brockenhurst Parish Council and NFDC to the actions that three concerned residents had redecorated their public loo because of obscene graffiti on the walls, my first and lasting reaction was: what planet do these councillors live on? Had they eaten some stardust or drunk some weird water? One will never know.

At a guess – and it is an educated guess – I would think that the vandals had either used a common cellulose spray paint, or the remains of a pot of paint from someone's garden shed. The response, however, was a typical one from a council – “OMG, we are all going to die, we are now going to have to carry out more additional work, it's going to take forever and cost a fortune. We now have to have a big pow-wow on site to discuss how we do things. Methodologies need to be approved, we have to decide what products we can use” and oh, dare I say the words, "a risk assessment" in case the toilets fall down while the painters are in them. And to cap it all, it's going to take at least three months.

What a load of faff over an incredibly minor incident. Mountains out of molehills all wrapped in pretty red tape.

Here's an idea. Under an amnesty asking the perpetrators to own up, get them to submit some artistic designs for the walls inside the loo and allow them to paint the approved ones (under supervision naturally). Maybe a little plaque at the entrance saying that the designs and paintings inside were all done by the youth of Brockenhurst. A pat on the back for the councils and a big one for the kids. Simples!

John Walsh
Address supplied