What a relief!
Communities refuse to lose the loos
Communities across Arran have rallied to re-open the public toilets on the island after council bosses slapped ‘shut’ signs on them.
There was widespread anger over the decision by North Ayrshire Council to close the loos as part of budget cuts at the end of March, leaving locals and visitors alike with nowhere to go.
Now, in schemes which are being repeated in villages across the island, community groups have negotiated with council chiefs to find a solution to the problem which is now starting to bear fruit with toilets re-opening and discussions taking place to secure the future of others.
A council spokesman said: ‘Over the past 12 months, council officers have met with local communities across Arran to find a viable and sustainable way forward for public toilet provision on the island.
‘These discussions have, so far, been successful in securing the transfer of six of the nine public facilities to community ownership and management, namely the public toilets at Kilmory, Whiting Bay, Sandbraes, Sannox, Brodick Green and Lochranza.
‘We are also in discussions with the Lamlash
community about the possibility of transferring the local facilities to community ownership. We look forward to the public meeting being organised by Lamlash Improvements Group at 6.30pm on Thursday August 17, at Arran High School, where the community and its representatives will be given the opportunity to speak about the proposal.
‘We are also holding positive discussions with community representatives in Blackwaterfoot about the possibility of the community taking ownership of the public toilet facility. Unfortunately, the toilets at North Sannox were beyond their useful economic life and were decommissioned.’
At Lochranza the public toilets have re-opened through the determined work of a small committee of seven residents who celebrated the re-opening of the public facility with a quirky re-opening ceremony.
The Lochranza loos committee has now taken ownership of the facilities on a month-to-month basis with the hope of them being formally handed over to community ownership at a future date.
Committee chairman, and volunteer cleaner, Tony Baboolal said: ‘These toi- lets have been closed without taking into account the welfare of the villagers, visitors and people of Arran. We could not shrug and walk away from it. Our intention is to retain these facilities for public access and to maintain the building itself, which is part of the fabric of the community. Their continued existence depends on donations and fundraisers but for now, like Elvis, they are back. Lochranza has its toilets back.’
To stress the point, Tony dressed as Elvis and along with committee member Margaret Kerr, cut a ribbon to officially re-open the toilets.
Tony added: ‘We could not have accomplished this without the help from Yvonne Baulk and Dave Mackay, both NAC officials, and from Colin MacKenzie who works for the Highland Council. I must specially mention the enormous help we have had from Audrey Hillis, NAC community development officer.’
After the short speech a celebratory dram was enjoyed, courtesy of Kate Hartley and Faye Waterlow of the Lochranza Distillery, who joined the celebrations with a tray of Lochranza cask whisky.
The Lochranza toilets have now had a donation box installed which will contribute to their upkeep along with the volunteer work of the Lochranza loos committee.
Over in Brodick, the Brodick Improvements Committee also managed to re-open its toilets just in time for the Brodick Highland Games which saw more than 4,000 visitors in the village on Saturday.
Committee chairman Harry Davidson said: ‘We are delighted to have reopened these facilities near Brodick beach. They are an absolute necessity for the community and visitors, and an asset which the alternative provision at the Brodick Hall was unable to replicate.
‘Thanks has to go to committee secretary Bill Calderwood who has worked tirelessly to make this happen. Without his hard work and the helpful assistance of the council, we would not of been able to make this a reality.’
The toilets in Brodick, which are now open from 7am to dusk, have been opened on a temporary basis at the moment while work continues to complete a community asset transfer which will come with some limited funding to allow improvements to the rundown toilet block. The committee are also investigating means of funding which may include securing sponsorship from local companies.
Further discussions taking place over the coming months will hopefully see the toilets in Lamlash, Blackwaterfoot and a new block in Sannox taken over by local communities under the same scheme.