A FATHER who started a petition to build a new toilet block on the Rye in High Wycombe says he is being ‘fobbed off’ by the council with their response.

Des Carrington collected nearly 400 signatures when launched the campaign after his young daughter got caught short while using the adventure play area - which is 650 metres from the toilet block.

He claims the council is encouraging revellers to use the west of the Rye nearest Abbey Way, which also has a cafe and boating lake, and should locate toilets near there as well.

And the concerned resident feels Wycombe District Council has not taken the issue seriously enough and failed to look into the costings properly.

Addressing last week’s WDC meeting, he said: "Even though I was acting alone and without the support of any campaign group, I was successful in obtaining 377 signatures in the first two weeks of a short campaign on Facebook.

"This is a large number of people who believe this is an important issue which needs to be urgently addressed. I believe given the time and support the petition figure would have risen 10 fold.

"Despite this I feel your response to the petition essentially fobbed me off with the same response given two years ago.

"This is not a new issue, I personally experienced problems with my older children some 30 years ago at a time when the main use of the park was more centralised."

Cllr Julia Adey, cabinet member for Community, said the cost of a new block would be around £20,000 plus ongoing maintenance, which cannot be justified amid current funding cuts.

She added that other parks in the district that have no toilet facilities at all, such as in Hughenden, would take priority.

But the determined father retorted that only one set of toilets were needed on Wycombe’s largest park, and that they should be where the majority of people gather to the west.

And with parents facing a long trek to take their young children to the other end of the park, the situation is ruining people’s enjoyment of the open green space.

WDC said it will continue to keep the situation under review