* Jim Jones, CEO of North Wales Tourism.
The region’s tourism boss says he can “feel the pain” of
Llangollen’s residents and businesses at the prospect of losing the town's public
toilets.
Denbighshire County Council is proposing to rid itself of most of the
county’s 20 public conveniences in a bid to ease its under-pressure budget to
the tune of around £200,000 a year.
Pointing out that it doesn’t have a legal duty to provide toilets, it
has suggested that they could be taken over by town and community councils. It
is also aiming to promote a scheme under which businesses are paid a small sum
each year to allow the public to use their toilets.
The proposal’s affect on the public loos in Market Street has sparked a
barrage of angry criticism on social media and campaigns to protect them.
Clwyd South MS Ken Skates has already expressed his support for saving
the toilets by writing to council chief executive Graham Boase to request the
authority takes another look at the proposal.
One of the campaign groups fighting the move is a group of concerned
residents including Phil Robinson, editor of llanblogger.
On Thursday they were in touch with Jim Jones, CEO of influential industry champion North Wales
Tourism, who expressed his concern over the proposal and immediately contacted
county chief executive Graham Boase to seek a meeting to discuss the impact it
would have on areas of the county heavily dependent on tourism such as
Llangollen and the coastal resorts.
Mr Jones told llanblogger: “I can feel your pain. Public toilets have
been an issue across the whole of north Wales for some time.
“We’ve made massive efforts to have more investment put into our toilets
but with this proposal the council have got their priorities wrong as they are
needed by tourists and tourism is the biggest contributor to the economy in
areas like Llangollen.
“Every local authority in north Wales gets an Enhanced Population Grant
which means that the more visitors they get, the more money they receive. They are
supposed to put that money into their infrastructure which would help encourage tourism, such as signage, tourist information centres and toilets, but they don’t. If it was
used in this way they wouldn’t be considering closing public toilets.
“The question is, with its many thousands of visitors each year, what
does Denbighshire do with the money it gets from the Enhanced Population Grant?”
Mr Jones added: “I have written to Graham Boase, CEO of Denbighshire
County Council requesting a meeting with him at which I will stress the
importance of public toilets to places like Llangollen.”
Mr Jones has promised to keep llanblogger posted on the outcome of that meeting.
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