MS and MP want meeting with town councillors over public toilets

* Ken Skates MS and Becky Gittins MP.

Local Labour politicians will seek a meeting with town councillors in a bid to ‘explore every avenue’ to keep Llangollen’s public toilets open. 

New MP Becky Gittins and Clwyd South MS Ken Skates say they’ve been contacted by a number of local residents who are concerned about the possible closure of the facilities on Market Street.

Mrs Gittins is MP for the new constituency of Clwyd East, which includes Llangollen. She attended the recent public meeting in the town hall and said she’s aware of the strength of feeling locally.

She said: “Ken and I had a productive meeting with the Denbighshire County Council leader and lead member and I’m optimistic a solution can be found – we’ll certainly explore every avenue we can.

“We now need to get round a table with county council officers and Llangollen Town Council. We all want the same result, and we need to work together to deliver it for the town.”

Mr Skates said the meeting with county councillors Jason McLellan and Barry Mellor was ‘positive’.

He added: “I'm keen to see the local authority work with the town council on this, and Becky and I want to bring them together to find a solution.

“The meeting with Denbighshire was positive and sitting down with the town council and making sure we’re all on the same page is the clear next step. No one wants the toilets to close, so I think we’re building from a solid foundation. Becky and I will certainly do all we can.”

Denbighshire County Council said it had to find £10.4m of savings as part of its 2024/25 budget.

The county council is under no legal requirement to provide public toilets but said it wanted to review the needs of the community. 

A proposal to review public convenience provision in the county was one of the potential savings identified, so a public consultation was launched to allow residents, business owners and visitors to have their say.