* The public conveniences in Market Street.
Denbighshire
County Council ridding itself of all its public conveniences to save around
£200,000 a year is not a “done deal” says its Cabinet chief.
Councllor Barry Mellor, Lead Cabinet Member, gave the
assurance to llanblogger after its editor and founder, Phil Robinson, wrote earlier this
week to all nine members of the cabinet expressing his hope that they would see
the strength of arguments being forward against the controversial money-saving
gesture.
Officers’ say the council needs to make savings as it faces an
“unprecedented” financial challenge and the proposal is part of a corporate
process to pinpoint cuts in the 2024/25 budget.
The provision of public conveniences (PCs) is a non-statutory duty. Many
local authorities ceased providing this service many years ago.
Denbighshire currently has 20 toilet sites across the county, including
Llangollen, none of which break even financially, it says.
The council aims to transfer as many of them as possible to other groups
or organisations, such as city, town and community councils, so that they
continue to operate but at no cost to DCC.
At the recent meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee the proposal
was strongly opposed by Llangollen county councillor Karen Edwards who branded
it as an “illogical act of self-harm”.
* Lead Cabinet member Cllr Barry Mellor.
The committee called for further information from officers on its impact before it again
considers the move in May.
llanblogger sent its email to every member of the cabinet who will have
the final say on the proposal.
In the email Phil Robinson said: “During
a journalistic career spanning 55 years I have never before felt it necessary
to contact local councillors directly about any issue. But I am writing to you
personally as a member of the authority’s Cabinet because I feel so strongly
about the current proposal under which Denbighshire County Council will divest
itself of all its public conveniences to save approximately £200,000 a year.
“I have
covered this issue comprehensively on llanblogger over the past few weeks and,
each time, it has prompted many comments from my readers, all of which have
been strongly critical of the move.
“I am therefore
contacting you in the hope that you will see the strength in the arguments put
forward against the proposal and bear them in mind when making a final decision
on it in the near future.
“While the
financial justification for this move in helping to ease pressure on the
authority’s budget is clear enough I wonder if you, as Cabinet members, have
given full consideration to its social cost.
“The
feedback I have received from my readers demonstrates deep concerns about the human
and economic impact the proposal is bound to have upon the town.
“Public
toilets, such as the one Llangollen and the rest of the county stand to lose,
are an absolute necessity if you are unfortunate enough to suffer from either
bladder or bowel problems, or you are simply getting on in years and no longer
fully in control of your body’s natural processes.
“I note that
in the officers’ report on this issue there was a degree of mitigation for the
proposal with the suggestion that further uptake of the Community Toilet Grant
scheme might be possible. However, I also note from the comments of our local
county councillor and Communities Scrutiny Committee member Karen Edwards in a
story on this issue which I published last week that, so far, there has only
been one business in the country which has availed itself of this scheme. Perhaps
you would agree that this doesn’t bode well for how it would fare locally.
“My story
also contained evidence from Councillor Edwards that Llangollen Town Council
does not have the resources or financial ability to take over the running of
the local public conveniences.
“Apart from
the human problems this proposal would create if implemented, there is also the
inescapable fact that the Llangollen economy replies very heavily on tourism.
Throughout the year and especially in the summer months the public conveniences
in Market Street are very heavily used. A casual observer will note that the
first stop made by many tourist coach passengers when they arrive in the town –
and the last as they leave - is to use these toilets.
“Each July
the town also attracts many thousands of extra people – many from abroad - who
attend the Llangollen International
Musical Eisteddfod and rely specifically on the Market Street public
conveniences when they attend the numerous events held off the field, such as
those in Centenary Square or in St Collen’s Church, neither of which have public
toilets. It is a similar situation of reliance when major events at the
Llangollen Railway bring – thankfully – crowds of people flocking to the
town.
“If Llangollen
no longer has public conveniences word will quickly spread around the tourism
trade that the town is not a good place to stop off and neighbouring towns not
in a public toilet-free Denbighshire will instead benefit from these valuable
tourist pounds with the result that businesses in this area will be badly hit.
“It has been
suggested on social media that getting rid of our county’s toilets is already a
“done deal” but I certainly trust that this is not the case. I know that
Councillor Karen Edwards’s suggestion at the last Communities Scrutiny
Committee meeting that officers produce a further report on this proposal was
accepted and I trust the facts as presented to members are taken fully into
account.
“Therefore,
I fervently hope that when it comes before Cabinet you will think very
seriously of the many implications for the community of Llangollen – and other
areas in the county – if this proposal is approved and implemented.
“As
Councillor Edwards so succinctly put it in her speech at the committee meeting,
this can be seen as an illogical act of self-harm to the county.”
In his
response on behalf of all the cabinet members, which came within hours, Cllr Mellor said: “The value and
importance of public conveniences is not in question, but it is an unfortunate
fact that the council does not have the financial resources to continue
providing non-statutory services in the way it has provided them in the
past. That is the reality of the situation we face.
“No
decisions have been made about this (therefore certainly not a “done deal”),
and another report will be taken to our Communities Scrutiny Committee before
any decision is sought from Cabinet.
“Our aim is
to do what we can to transfer as many PC facilities as possible, and we also do
plan to promote the Community Toilet Scheme. We cannot pre-empt the
conclusions of those discussions, because they haven’t happened yet. We
plan to request a discussion with Town Councils in the near future, so I’d
rather not speculate about the outcome of those discussions at this
stage. However, I would like to assure you that myself and Cabinet will
consider the potential implications for our communities very carefully before
any decision is made.”
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