Toilet closures scrapped in favour of proposed council tax rise

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

Plans to shut public toilets in three communities have been put on hold in favour of plans to raise council tax to keep them open.

Denbighshire Council cabinet members voted at a meeting last month to close public conveniences at St Asaph, Rhuddlan and Dyserth in a cost-cutting exercise that will also see six other public toilets upgraded.

The planned closures sparked fury, and backbench councillors challenged the decision, asking for it to be considered again.

Now, cabinet members have agreed a council tax rise of 0.27% could be used to keep the toilets open.

Cashless payments

As part of the local toilet strategy, Denbighshire Council was looking to introduce cashless payment systems on upgraded toilets at Rhyl, Prestatyn, Denbigh, Ruthin, Llangollen and Corwen.

After a failed grant bid to Welsh Government, the council planned to apply for Lottery funds to pay for the upgrades.

Now, the three toilet closures have been halted after Cllr Andrea Tomlin, backed by five other councillors, called the decision in.

Following a debate by the partnership scrutiny committee and at cabinet yesterday (Tuesday), Denbighshire’s cabinet voted to look at scrapping the plans.

Councillors opposing the toilets’ closure claimed the move would be “ignoring the needs and dignity of the vulnerable”, as well as those of community workers while “putting the tourist economy at risk”.

Members also claimed the strategy undermined the Wellbeing Act.

Another concern highlighted was damage to the council’s reputation.

But the new proposal could see council tax increase by about £4.83 per year for a typical household, with councillors backing the move, claiming the increase will protect people’s health, dignity, and access to public facilities.

‘Fund services’

Leader Cllr Jason McLellan said: “At the end of the day, council tax is there to fund services, and it is an option that could be applied to many other services.”

Cllr David Williams asked for assurances that toilets would remain open while negotiations were ongoing.

Cllr McLellan answered: “Yes, they will stay open, David.”

Cllr Martyn Hogg then said he was concerned that the decision to close toilets could disproportionately affect rural communities.

Cllr Hogg suggested an alternative solution to saving toilets could result in community councils – who might take over running toilets from the county council – being forced to up their precepts in individual wards, rather than increasing council tax across the county as a whole.

This would mean rural residents paying more.

He then gave an example of St Asaph residents paying more council tax to keep toilets open in the city, rather than all Denbighshire residents sharing the cost.

“I think we should be sharing the burden, especially on toilets,” he said.

“There seems to be a very strong opinion across the whole county that public toilets are an important service.”

Cllr McLellan said council tax would be increased across the county if a decision was reached but maintained there would be “nuances” of individual community councils setting their own precepts.

Cllr Brian Jones said: “Saturday night I got challenged about this meeting today and challenged about this proposed 0.2% increase to cover the cost of running public toilets across the county.

“The point I want to make: It was the easiest challenge in seven years of being involved in the public sector to defend the corner, and the people with them that asked the question, they all agreed.

“In this instance, you can’t go raising council tax to cover other gaps because you will hit resistance, but I think in respect of public toilets, you’ll struggle to find any resident, when you explain the debate on it, people just agree.”

Cllr McLellan said the decision would now trigger a process to negotiate an increase in council tax with city, town, and community councils and that the toilets would remain open in the meantime.

The cabinet voted unanimously in favour of reconsidering its decision to close existing Denbighshire operated public conveniences and will instead look to retain services by funding the cost from a dedicated 0.27% increase in council tax in 2026/27.

This represents an average cost of around £4.83 per year per Band D household.