East Cambridgeshire District Council is currently carrying out a review of its public toilet provision – six sets of public toilets in Ely, and one each in Fordham, Burwell and Littleport.
Options the council is considering include closure, or (in Ely) charging for use.
I’ve just been appointed to the working party that is doing the detailed work before making recommendations to the council’s Commercial Services Committee.
I’d be interested to hear your views about public toilet provision. The council will be carrying out a brief consultation, and I hope to have some early copies available for people to complete at my Meet Your Councillor surgery this coming Tuesday (11 August). I’d like to use this event as an opportunity to hear what local residents have to say.
What do you think? Should the council keep our public toilets free to use? What if that means they can’t upgrade them? Or are they fine as they are? Should they be shut down if they cost too much money to run?
I’d like to know what you think: why not come along to my Meet Your Councillor surgery on Tuesday 11 August, 6:30-7:30pm at the community room at the school.
No, toilets should be available to public at no charge. I have occasional health issues which have demanded immediate use of these facilities. Well, closing, what a good idea, charging, brilliant! For goodness sake can’t the DC find their cuts somewhere a little less ‘personal’? I have worked for CCC and with ECDC, public toilets are being targeted as an emotive, political issue. As long as toilets work and are clean there is NO need to upgrade. Upgrade when you can afford it. I am fuming about this.
Why would anyone consider closing public toilets this is beyond ridiculous and as for charging that is even more so! There is surely a small budget that can be spent on something that is used on a daily basis. Even if there is no upgrade as long as they are clean and in good working order isn’t that what matters?
I was interested to hear that we are the only area in our ‘sub-region’ (most of Cambridgeshire and a bit of Suffolk) that doesn’t charge for use of public toilets – and that the rest have introduced charges after upgrading facilities.
But I agree that there are lots of people (parents with young children, many elderly, those with IBS or Crohn’s or other conditions) who need access to facilities here and now, not 500 yards down the road or when they get home.
Currently the nine sets of toilets cost over £200,000 a year to maintain across East Cambridgeshire. But they’re well used and obviously needed.
The toilets in Ely are certainly well used by locals and also help to provide facilities for tourists who make an important contribution to the local economy. It is worth taking into account the problems that may be caused if any are closed or charged for – there was a recent local news item where an alleyway had become regularly used as a toilet. It would be useful to know what problems, if any, areas where charges are made have experienced and also what is the extra cost of administering a charging system.