£50k loos loan plan is money down the toilet
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PLANS to give communities loans to convert under-threat public toilets into pay-as-you-pee facilities are "a load of nonsense", a community councillor believes.
Council loans of up to £5000 could be made available to groups to cover the cost of installing coin machines and turnstiles to make it feasible to charge on entry.
The proposal comes amid a controversial council plan to axe 29 toilets – including a number across Ross-shire – unless residents join forces and take the toilets on under a community ownership scheme and then charge for their use.
Highland Council’s vice-convener Allan Henderson said it was possible the council will borrow £50,000 to set up the special toilet fund under what is known as a council loan payment scheme.
He said some community groups who flagged up an interest in taking on their public toilets said they needed cash up front before they would even consider such a mighty venture.
He also admitted, however, that the council "will probably" end up retaining ownership of some of the 29 toilets and install its own pay-on-entry equipment. He said it all depends on community consultation.
But Dingwall community councillor George Murray was critical of the loan scheme. And he believes the council should retain ownership of all 29 under-threat public toilet facilities – avoiding loan borrowing costs that will have to be borne by the council.
He said: "The council said the toilets in Dingwall would cost them £15,000 per year to keep open – so they want to close them. But the council could quite easily recoup a fairly substantial whack of that.
"If they had gone to real consultation with the public and the various bodies – if they had talked to us – they would have heard us say ‘by all means put charges in the toilets – we are happy to pay the charges’ – and they could have recouped a lot of that £15,000 – because people are happy to pay to pee.
"Here in Dingwall we have people coming from the west coast to do their shopping.
"They would be delighted to pay 50p rather than see the toilet closed and having to go to search for one. This loan fund sounds likes a load of nonsense."
He added: "At the end of the day there is an appetite by some to pay for using toilets – but also at the same time people are finding it disgusting that they have to step into the breach to help out the council."
Responding, Cllr Henderson said: "This originally started with all the cutbacks in public finance and the fact that running toilets was, and is not, a function of the council. That may sound odd, but is a fact.
"In an effort to save jobs within the council it was decided to rationalise toilets, which in simple terms is the council retaining larger and strategic toilets and offering the others to community groups that have more opportunity to apply for community funds for upgrading and improvements to toilets.
"On consultation with communities it was clear that there could be a lack of capital finance within groups that are interested in taking on the running of toilets, so the proposal to establish this fund is to enable communities.
"It would be an absolutely nominal sum, that’s not going to be a problem to them."
Loos at Kinlochewe and on the A9 at North Kessock as well as at Avoch, Portmahomack, Fortrose, and Rosemarkie are also on the council’s closure-threat list.
They were set to close soon in a bid to save £338,000, however the council agreed to delay until the end of October to more closely examine the plan.
