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. 

Art workshop to be held at Llangollen Library tomorrow

This summer, libraries across Denbighshire are encouraging children to fire up their imaginations through the power of reading and creative expression.

Working in partnership with Denbighshire Leisure Community Arts, libraries county-wide will be running craft workshops for the readers taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge.

The Summer Reading Challenge aims to prevent the "summer dip" learning loss many children experience over the holidays when they aren't in school.

With libraries' support, it provides a free, fun way to keep young minds active. In 2023, over 685,000 children across the UK participated. 

The theme of this year’s challenge is 'Marvellous Makers', and Denbighshire’s Libraries are being joined by brilliant local artists for the summer, including, Tara Dean, Jess Balla, Lisa Carter and Elen Williams. 

These creative activities will include printmaking with air dry clay, decorating paper hats, collage printing and creating a comic. 

Sessions are free but spaces are limited, so please contact your local library to book a place. 

These sessions are arranged in partnership with DLL Active Communities, and are funded by UK Government.

* The Marvellous Makers Craft Workshop with Tara Dean will be held at Llangollen Library on Wednesday 7th August, 2-4pm.

Loss of public toilets could end major local event, council chief is warned

* The Old Railway Trail parkrun celebrated its first anniversary in June. An official warns it might have to end if Llangollen's public toilets are lost.

A major local event attended by hundreds every week may be forced to end if Llangollen's public toilets are lost.

That's the message to Denbighshire's county council chief from one of the organisers. 

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

This includes the toilets in Llangollen’s Market Street. But the 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 on the amount it draws from the council tax.

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.

A public meeting will be held on the issue at the Town Hall in Parade Street tomorrow (Tuesday August 6) starting at 6pm.

Meanwhile, Mike Edwards has emailed county chief executive Graham Boase to urge the council to "carefully consider " the closure of the toilets.

He says: "I write to you as Co-Event Director of the Old Railway Trail parkrun which takes place every Saturday morning at 9am from our Health Centre. We launched the events in June 2023, last week saw our 59th parkrun which regularly attracts hundred runners plus every week. 

"There is no access to public toilets for participants other than the Market Street toilets where people also park when visiting our town. 

"We are glad to be part of the parkrun community, but may be forced to end the event if there are no public toilets available for participants because we always attract a good proportion of tourists to each event." 

Mr Edwards also cites another major annual event which would be hit if the toilets were lost to the town. 

He gives a link to a news story highlighting the fact that over 50,000 music-lovers visited Llangollen during June and July for a series of evenings concerts, featuring headliners such as Tom Jones and the Manic Street Preachers. 

Mr Edwards adds: "The decision also needs to be made taking into account of the impact closure will have on the income produced by the Market Street car park, which you will know produces more revenue than any other carpark in Denbighshire. 

"Without public toilets coaches and cars will not park at Market Street to the extent they do now and this will also effect businesses in Llangollen reducing their trade.

"I would ask you to bring the above points to the attention of Council when they consider this decision."

Pengwern Community Hub's August timetable

 

Also here are posters for Art and Craft (aimed at 6-10 year olds in the morning) and Minecraft (aimed at 10-15 year olds in the afternoon) with Menter Iaith on August 20.  

* Contact Gwion@misirddinbych.cymru  or 01745 812 822 – booking is essential.

Organisers say there are still have some places left for Circus Skills next Wednesday August 7 but it’s filling up fast – so do book your place if you want to come.

The organisers say they are hoping to start a sustainable gardening course in September which is looking like it’s going to be a popular one, adding: "Please let us know if you are interested."

On September 14 there is a harvest gathering featuring food and family fun activities.

Latest update on Bridge End facelift

A Llangollen pub is expecting to reopen this month following a £1.5 million refurbishment project, according to the Leader.

* For the full story on the Bridge End, go to: Llangollen: Bridge End continues to share renovation updates | The Leader (leaderlive.co.uk)   

County councillor gives latest update on recycling problems

Llangollen county councillor Karen Edwards has given her latest update on the problems still being faced by local people with the new recycling scheme introduced by Denbighshire County Council a few months ago. She says ...

"I know that many residents are continuing to suffer a sub-standard statutory service from Denbighshire County Council with respect the new waste collection scheme which came into effect on June 3^rd. 

In my previous statement on this subject I explained some of the issues and some of the actions which the County Council was taking in order to address the failures occurring in the operation of the new system.

"We are not alone in experiencing these problems of late with missed collections and in some cases no collections at all which continue to occur across the County. 

"DCC continue to deploy additional vehicles and agency personnel as well as allocating additional personnel from other departments and scheduling additional weekend (Saturday) collections to cope with the issues this scheme has created. This means we are being exposed to both unplanned costs and  a degradation in the provision of other services which is not sustainable. 

"I have been pressing the responsible officers in DCC  for more information.

"It is clear that some of the new vehicles are not able to negotiate some of the narrow single-track roads in the rural areas of the County both adopted and unadopted which were all part of the collection rounds in the previous scheme.

"According to the officers responsible for the planning and implementation of this rollout, the solution proposed in the new scheme is for group collection points where residents who live on such unadopted roads are expected to transport their waste to a group collection point. I have been advised that residents in this situation have been written to, but it would appear that this is not correct in every case.

"In order to try to assess the impact of this change in the service, I have asked for the data as to how many houses fall into this category and the location. Unfortunately, despite asking on more than one occasion, DCC Officers have been unable to furnish me with this information which in itself is most unsatisfactory and disappointing.

"In order to help me to better represent residents' views, I would like to hear from anyone in the Llangollen area I represent who has received a letter from the Council informing them that collections will no longer be made from houses located on unadopted roads.

"If you haven’t received a letter and you live on such a road, I would like to hear from you too. please contact me either via Ffon/telephone  07795 652188 or Ebost /email karen.edwards@denbighshire.gov.uk

"I cannot make promises for a better service tomorrow because I have yet to see the evidence that the additional resources deployed to resolve matters are working and having the desired effect to become a sustainable and reliable system. 

"I can assure you that I am doing all I can to make sure that the responsible officers address the shortcomings in the service as a matter of urgency.

"I and my fellow councillors are also seeking answers from DCC on the true cost and financial impact  of this scheme to residents in the long term." 

Eisteddfod joins list of Britain's longest-running TV shows

* This year's Eisteddfod began with the traditional Parade of Nations through the town.

Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod has made a list of Britain’s top 10 longest-running TV shows.

Compiled by the Metro newspaper, this places the annual London Lord Mayor’s Show at number one. first broadcast in 1937, to the likes of the BBC’s Panorama news programme (1953) which takes number three spot and ITV’s Coronation Street which is ninth.

In at number four is Llangollen’s Eisteddfod, which the BBC began broadcasting each year back in 1954, along with the Eurovision Song Contest.

Of the Eisteddfod, which this year staged a major revival to attract 50,000 to its headline evenings concerts featuring stars such as Tom Jones and the Manic Street Preachers, the Metro says: “Since 1954, on BBC One Wales, the music festival which takes place in the second week of July gets the TV treatment.

“Five thousand singers, dancers and instrumentalists from approximately 50 countries travel to Llangollen to perform for audiences of more than 50,000.

“Both Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod and National Eisteddfod of Wales have also been shown on S4C since 1982.”

* To see the full story, go to: The longest-running British TV show isn’t what you’d expect | Metro News