New community toilet scheme branded ‘ludicrous’

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A council’s plan to pay businesses £500 a year to make toilets available for the public whilst closing council-owned conveniences has been described as “ludicrous”.

Denbighshire council’s cabinet will meet next week to consider its ‘Draft Local Toilets Strategy’ – a plan on how to cut the costs of public conveniences.

Earlier this year, a report by council officers came under heavy fire after £200,000 of savings were proposed which would have seen some toilets close and others transferred to community councils.

A row at a scrutiny committee in early spring saw councillors instead ask for more information.

Public consultation

Following an initial public consultation, the cabinet are now tasked with rubberstamping the cost-cutting plan on Tuesday (December 17) before it goes back out to public consultation.

The debate follows Denbighshire receiving the largest percentage rise in its annual sum from Welsh Government last year.

The awarding of a comparatively generous sum is likely to be repeated in 2025/26, following the Senedd announcing this week that Denbighshire will again enjoy a 4.7% rise in its Local Government Settlement.

The rise is the highest percentage increase in North Wales.

But the ‘action plan’ proposes a range of measures, with businesses being offered to partake in a ‘Community Toilet Scheme’ for £500 a year or £9.61 a week.

The report states: “Participating establishments will be required to keep their toilets safe, clean, accessible, and well stocked. The maximum grant payment in Denbighshire County Council’s CTS is currently £500 per annum.”

‘No toilets’

Tremeirchion councillor Chris Evans slammed the plans.

He said: “We are welcoming everybody in for tourism to places like Llangollen. Come use the canals and walk the paths and parks, but they’ll be no toilets to use.

“It is ludicrous. One of the things I’d be very worried about is that Denbighshire don’t try and push the toilets as well as the libraries onto the town councils for them to pay.

“We can’t put it on small businesses either. They (the council) are totally deluded of what a business owner has to do. For that £10 a week, the business owner will have to clean the toilet, stock toilet paper.

“Small businesses are under the cosh and are not getting any help. It is not right.”

He added: “The attitude towards businesses in Denbighshire is very poor, and again we are putting it on businesses.

“They haven’t got an endless pot of money. I know a few people in St Asaph and Denbigh with businesses, and there is no way they would want that.”

Financial information

Conservative Rhyl councillor Brian Jones also criticised the report as lacking financial information.

Cllr Jones agreed with Cllr Evans’ view that offering businesses £500 a year to provide a public toilet wasn’t going to work.

Cllr Jones said: “They’ve (council officers) done quite a bit of work, but there are some gaps in the work they’ve done, certainly from a financial point of view, in respect of how much does each individual toilet in Denbighshire cost to run.

“When you understand that, then you probably can make an educated assumption over which toilets can stay open and which can’t.

“It actually says in the document that no decision has been made on any toilet. If you’ve got all that (financial) information broken down, it gives outside groups the option of taking on the responsibility.

“That is a criticism, that they haven’t given us pounds, shillings, and pence of what it costs to run the toilets.”

He added: “The concern I’ve got is the option where they are offering businesses £500 a year to supply a toilet in a tourist destination.

“It is just not going to work, and I’m not aware of anywhere in the UK where that works practically.

“You have to have a public toilet facility in tourist destinations like Llangollen, Rhyl, and even places like Ruthin, and anywhere where there is culture, heritage, or that attracts tourism.

“Fifty-two weeks in a year, that’s roughly £10 a week. It’s hard to see that as a viable option. I might be wrong.

“You might get 100 businesses in Rhyl offering it (putting their name forward). The businesses I’ve spoken to in Rhyl, they haven’t got the facilities to offer it.”

Review

Denbighshire says the Local Toilets Strategy has been developed following a full public consultation earlier this year, which resulted in 1,400 responses.

The assessment was intended to review the needs of the local population, including changing facilities for babies and disabled people.

But the council claim that Denbighshire is facing a period of “significant and continued budget pressures”.

Cllr Barry Mellor, lead cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “As yet, no decision has been made about closing public conveniences in Denbighshire, and this strategy is about identifying where there is a need for toilets and how to try and meet this identified need.

“We understand that public conveniences are highly valued assets by certain parts of the community.

“However, the fact remains that the provision of public conveniences is not a statutory duty, and we do not now have a big enough budget to enable us to keep delivering services in the same way that we have always delivered them in the past.

“Officers have already identified the needs of the local population through the Interim Needs Assessment consultation, and they are looking for alternative ways to deliver the service in line with the budget, such as the Community Toilet Scheme.”

The matter will be debated at Denbighshire’s cabinet meeting on 17 December.

If the report is agreed upon, a public consultation will follow, starting on 18 December.