Families 'put off using park' as toilets are kept LOCKED during summer holidays

Families have spoken out in frustration as the toilets of a popular Tameside park have been left locked during the summer holidays. Hyde Park, in Hyde, is one of the borough's best loved attractions for residents of all ages.

Walk through the picturesque surroundings and signposts point the way to toilet facilities at the park. But some residents have told the Manchester Evening News they are being put off visiting the site because the facilities are shut.

The toilets are understood to have been closed during most of the year for a number of years. Tameside Council has opened the facilities up in recent summer holidays - but not this year.

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Hyde's only public toilet is at the town hall, more than half a mile away on the other side of the M67 motorway. Carolyn Winterbottom, 54, says she has put her name forward as a key holder for the toilets.

She has volunteered with youth offenders for 10 years and walks her dog in the park every day - but Carolyn says she has been 'fobbed off' after putting her name forward to the council. She said: "Hyde Park is beautiful, it has been heaving with kids and so many people. It's just not right.

"A lot of people have been put off going to the park because of it. We're two weeks into the summer holidays now and it needs to open. They are trying to encourage people to use outside spaces. I just think it's absolutely atrocious, especially in the summer holidays."

Park users told the M.E.N. the toilet situation is a problem for families with young children, as well as older residents. A mum-of-four, who gave her name as Kelly, said: "I've got a lot of friends who travel to see me and it would be