CCTV may have to be deployed after Dingwall public toilets vandalised
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Dingwall councillor Sean Kennedy spoke out after an attack on the town’s public toilets left them “unfit for use”.
The attack came just two weeks after toilets in Muir of Ord were closed in similar circumstances.
The Dingwall toilets, in the town’s Athole Court, will be closed “for the foreseeable future”, as Highland Council’s amenity services manager Debbie Sutton said they will not be repaired and reopened “until we are satisfied that the daily threat of vandalism is reduced”.
The toilets were previously attacked in June.
“The building was flooded and the site was left in a considerable mess,” Ms Sutton said of the latest attack.
“We ask people to be respectful of the facilities and report any concerns over misuse. Some facilities are locally run by the community, so the vandals are simply damaging the efforts of their own families, friends, and neighbours.
“Vandalism, while not only criminal, is a total waste of taxpayers’ money and diverts resources from council works and services. It’s vital that our public toilets are safeguarded and no more are lost.”
Councillor Kennedy said: “I think it is completely outrageous, all the local members are angry about this.
“We have only just had Muir of Ord toilets attacked and now Dingwall – both for the second time this year.
“We really need to move to another way of dealing with this, a permanent solution. And I think that has to be CCTV – fully operative and manned CCTV so that the police can respond in real time to incidents so we at least stand a chance of catching those responsible.
“It is a staggering waste of time, money and effort and for what?”
In the wake of the attack on the Muir of Ord toilets Councillor Graham Mackenzie described the vandals as “mind-blowingly stupid” and “despicable” and held to those views after the latest incident.
“We are in a cost of living crisis and a cost of doing business crisis and this is fast becoming unaffordable,” he said.
“As local councillors we are scraping together every penny to try and help those people most affected by the cost crisis and instead of thinking about that, we have some people who want to go out and destroy public property.
“I think all the members of the Dingwall and Seaforth area committee are determined to do what is necessary to bring this to a halt.”
