Up to 15 public toilets face council closure
Public toilets across Argyll and Bute are to be closed as a cost-saving measure – despite reports of human waste being left outside some facilities.
The council’s business continuity committee has agreed to an officer’s recommendation to keep 35 public conveniences open until the end of October.
But then between 10 and 15 would have to close and only a ‘core set’ would remain open.
However, the council has given no indication – either in the report to a recent meeting or during the meeting itself – of which toilets might remain.
The council has been asked to identify which toilets are proposed to go or be retained.
Council officials face a budget deficit because of the coronavirus, and strict new guidelines demand more extensive cleaning of public toilets which would drive up costs.
Senior officials have said the pandemic had presented difficulties in reverting to the public toilet services it offered previously.
However, the decision comes amid rising community concerns – particularly in remote rural areas – about visitors fouling the area due to a lack of open facilities.
A meeting of the committee heard widespread discussion on what should be done going forward – including engaging with communities and reopening all facilities.
Councillor Douglas Philand asked: ‘Is there any scope for increasing the opening of other public toilets? On the green at Kilmartin, they have found human excrement – they know it is human because there was toilet paper beside it.
‘This is actually happening there – is it possible, based on that, to look at opening other facilities?’
Kirsty Flanagan, the council’s head of strategic finance, responded: ‘There is an option to open more toilets, but it will come at a cost.
‘The proposal is to minimise the cost, and we also have the paper on Covid-19 costs, which we are trying to minimise.
‘We have public toilets open across all areas. I appreciate they are not all open but there are some within a commutable distance.’
Councillor Rory Colville asked: ‘Have we any way of engaging with communities, especially those with toilets closed and with no plans to reopen? We need to engage with them and offer them support, should they be willing to consider taking them on.’
Ms Flanagan responded: ‘Services are engaging where they are getting contact, but are not proactively going out to those groups as there is limited capacity to do so.
‘Prior to the pandemic they had tried to do that and had limited take-up from communities. If groups come forward I am sure they will engage.’