Public meeting hears town's toilets are too valuable to lose

* The Town Hall was packed for the meeting.

Llangollen’s under-threat public toilets are too valuable to lose.

That was the strong message which came out of a public meeting last night (Tuesday) called to allow residents and businesses the chance to discuss the possible loss of the loos in Market Street.

In a bid to balance its budget, Denbighshire County Council aims to shed all the public conveniences it runs and offer local town and community councils the chance to take them over, including the local ones.

But Llangollen Town Council has already ruled out a take-over on the grounds that it would be beyond its financial means and lead to a big increase in the amount it draws from council tax.

* The panel, including the mayor, Cllr Aled Morris (in red tie) who chaired the meeting.

The idea that a major tourist town like Llangollen stands to lose its busy public loos has sparked major protests on social media ranging over the past couple of months since the plan was revealed.

The meeting in the Town Hall was arranged by concerned resident Rod Holt after weeks of negotiations with the town council.

An estimated 130 people turned up to hear Mr Holt outline the problems in keeping the toilets open, which was followed by a string of people airing their disgust and disbelief at the idea of losing them.

Although both the area’s county councillors were present along with a large number of town councillors – including town mayor Aled Morris who took the chair – not a single officer of the county council accepted the invitation to attend.

Mr Holt said: “The officers responsible were supposed to be here to explain what was happening and answer questions from the people of the town but nobody has come. Basically, Denbighshire County Council doesn’t care about Llangollen.”

* Meeting organiser Rod Holt makes a point. 

He added: “This town has a number of events, such as the Eisteddfod, which bring large numbers of people here who need public toilets. We also have many coaches calling here whose passengers all use the toilets. If the coach companies hear we are going to lose the toilets they’ll simply stop coming. I know this is a fact because people have told me so.”

Setting out the town council’s position, the mayor explained that the county council was planning to shed its public toilets to meet an estimated shortfall of around £27.5 million in the next financial year.

But he described the town council taking over the Market Street loos as a “non-starter” on financial grounds.

He said it had been estimated the cost of bringing them up to modern standards would be at least £110,000, which would mean an increase of 57 per cent in the town council precept – the amount added on top of the council tax to run the town council’s local assets such as the Town Hall and Centenary Square. This, he said, equated to £45 a year.

Resident Phil Jones suggested from the floor that the town council agrees to take on the toilets provided it could also take over the adjacent car park – estimated to bring in £187,000 a year in ticket sales – and use money from this to pay for the loos. The suggestion received a round of applause from the audience.

Retired local GP Dr Rhys Davies said that while the county council had no statutory duty to provide public toilets, it certainly had a moral one. This again attracted applause.

Another suggestion which was warmly greeted came from Eisteddfod trustee board member Dave Hennigan who said: “We should consider what we can do as a community to take action on this matter and if they won’t come to our meeting, maybe a number of us should go to theirs.”

The area’s new MP, Becky Gittins, who was in the audience and making copious notes, said she would do everything possible to get stakeholders in the issue together.

The meeting, which lasted just under two hours, ended with the mayor describing it as having been useful.

He said the town council, which had already had a number of meetings with county officers on the issue, would not be giving up on it and was still looking at a number of “different options”.

The county council is due to make the final decision on the fate of the toilets next month.