A DAMNING environmental health report on the Petersfield Town Council-owned Avenue Pavilion has called for urgent action to be taken. Members of the council's public halls committee received a report from East Hampshire District Council's senior environmental health officer Karen Beale outlining a series of measures which, she said, must be carried out to bring the pavilion in line with legal requirements. She also outlined measures which should be taken under good practice procedure. The measures included providing a wash basin in the kitchen for food handlers, cleaning kitchen units and cupboards, mending a work surface, putting new seals behind the sink and repairing or renewing the kitchen floor. Mrs Beale said the male, female and disabled toilet facilities were dirty and needed redecorating. She said the wash basins, toilets, urinals, hot air heaters and radiators needed a thorough clean. "There was a pool of water under the urinals in the male toilets. The cause of the water needs to be investigated and appropriate remedial action taken" she pointed out. Under good practice recommendations, Mrs Beale suggested that liquid soap should be used in the male and female toilets, the thermostats should be adjusted to reduce the heat of the water and light pulls should be lowered to make them accessible to people in wheel chairs. Paul Molloy, chairing the meeting on Monday night, told fellow members: "This is a pretty damning report, and it is actually going to cost us money - and where is the money going to come from?" He said one of the options was to take the kitchen out of operation as an area to cook food. "Do we actually need a full kitchen there?" he asked. He also suggested that the inspection may have been more rigorous than necessary. "I understand Karen is fairly new to the job, she may be sweeping very clean," he told councillors. And he was also concerned about how the pavilion came to be in the poor state it was reported to be in. "Why has this been allowed to deteriorate to this degree without our knowledge?" he asked. "I find it pretty embarrassing that this has been allowed to get to this degree." He said he also found it worrying that everything seemed to be dirty. "We have a caretaker and we spend a lot of money on deep cleans, twice a year, although they were cut to one this year. I think I 'd expect the caretaker to be doing this." Mr Molloy was told that all food hygiene inspections were carried out in the same rigorous way. He was also told that the cleaner had difficulty getting into the pavilion because it was hired out so frequently it was difficult to find a time when the floors could be cleaned. Town mayor Brian Dutton asked if the cleaner had a regime to follow so that everything was cleaned regularly. Councillors asked colleague Aaron Baird to compile a schedule of cleaning for the Avenue Pavilion. l PETERSFIELD Town Council is to allow dog training at the Avenue Pavilion, providing strict hygiene rules are met. At the meeting of the public halls committee councillors agreed to allow the hall to be used by dog trainers after seeking advice from East Hampshire District Council's environmental protection officer.
