A homebuyer has spent a penny on a home in Ewell that used to a public toilet.

Needles, drug paraphernalia, vermin, asbestos and litter had to be removed from the former toilets before they were converted into two two small, semi-detached homes – one of which has been sold for nearly £300,000.

From September 2012: Ex-public toilets in Ewell Village to become one-bedroom maisonettes?

A developer said it was only a “matter of time” before horrific attacks including abuse or rape took place inside the dirty building opposite Bourne Hall in Ewell.

From April 2015: Kicking up a stink: toilets-to-tiny homes development in Ewell Village "causing severe disruption"

From April 2015: Developer says empty public toilets where two £300,000 small homes are to be built needed to be knocked down

Developers Cannonside bought the 0.019-acre lot in London Road, Ewell for £80,000 from Epsom and Ewell Borough Council in 2012, and built two small homes there. One of the homes - described on Rightmove as “stunning… stylish and contemporary – was sold this week for £285,000.

The homes have one bedroom, en-suite showers, downstairs cloakrooms, a courtyard garden enclosed by a brick wall, underfloor heating, and of course, a toilet.

David Greaney, of Cannonside, said the clean-up and closure of the public bathroom has improved the community.

“We found all kinds of materials which suggested the site was being used for things it shouldn’t have been,” Mr Greaney said.

“There were needles, drugs packages, vermin, asbestos, litter.

"It was only a matter of time before someone was found abused or raped in there.

"The council should have been made to take it down. They sold it so they wouldn’t have to take it down.”

Residents were outraged when cash-strapped Epsom and Ewell Borough Council first auctioned off the toilets in 2012 for £68,000, but the council were feeling flush.

At the time the council said the closure of the toilets, along with those in Stoneleigh Broadway and the Upper High Street car park, would save £21,000 a year.

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