Community ownership for public toilets?
Toilets at Granton Square and Canonmills will be among the first tranche of public convenience closures, it has been confirmed. The local public conveniences are among ten that will close over the summer, saving £300,000.
Ross McEwan, administrator of Granton Improvement Society, has called for the local public toilet to be acquired as a community asset.
It’s not a cr*p idea: in other areas across the country enterprising local communities have formed Trusts to save local assets – including public toilets.
One group in Devon successfully took over the running over their village toilets when faced with council closure. Not only did they save the facility, they upgraded it – with the help of Lottery funding, the villagers of Barbrook refurbished the toilets and added a community information room next door too!
During Edinburgh’s budget process in 2011, the Council agreed to reduce the budget of the Public Conveniences service by £300,000, a saving that was delayed until the 2015/2016 financial year.
Earlier this year an initial list of toilets proposed for closure was selected based on the number of people using the facilities, the conditions of the buildings, alternative facilities available in the local area and the potential for a Community Toilet Scheme.
Prior to final closure of these facilities, consultation has been undertaken with the wider community to establish views on the proposed closures and identify any steps that could be taken to lessen the effects of losing these facilities.
The results of this survey can be found here .
Following consideration of the feedback, the decision has been made to close the following toilets:
· Ardmillan – end of July 2015
· Canaan Lane – end of July 2015
· Canonmills – end of July 2015
· Currie – end of July 2015
· Granton Square – end of July 2015
· Joppa – end of August 2015
· Juniper Green – end of July 2015
· London Road – end of August 2015
· St John’s Road – end of August 2015
· Tollcross – end of August 2015.
Two other public conveniences have been spared – at least for now. The toilets at Hawes Pier and Middle Meadow Walk will not be closed at this time, while the options for these sites are reviewed.
To lessen the impact of the closures, the Council is establishing a Community Toilet Scheme with interested businesses across the city.
This would result in participating businesses allowing members of the public to use their toilet facilities without expecting them to make a purchase, in exchange for an annual payment from the Council.
A number of businesses have already expressed an interest in participating through the public toilets survey and some businesses in identified areas have also been approached with information about the Scheme.
A council spokesperson said: “The decision to close these toilets has been a difficult one and it is appreciated that there will be some impact following these closures. To help mitigate this, there have been over 60 additional toilet facilities identified in Council buildings around the city that are available for the public to use.
“These are located in various Libraries, Community Centres, Edinburgh Leisure facilities and Neighbourhood Offices; information about these toilet facilities is available here on the Council’s website.”
Nearly 20 public toilets will remain open.
If you would like to make an enquiry about public toilet closures, please call 0131 529 3030 or email public.toilets@edinburgh.gov.uk.
If you do choose to call the telephone number, be prepared for a lengthy wait … might be worth going for a pee before you call!
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