Councillors’ concerns over Abergele community toilet scheme

Jun 25 2009 by David Simister, North Wales Weekly News

COUNCILLORS in Abergele have voted against a push to make the public use private toilets, saying it needs further consultation.

Members of Abergele Town Council said last Thursday that they supported Welsh Assembly funding to encourage more businesses to make their toilets for public use, but said they were unhappy that no money could be made available to improve existing toilet facilities, and pulled the chain on their backing for the scheme.

“The idea’s a good one but the money being talked about isn’t really adequate for Abergele, so would anyone really take it on?” asked Abergele county councillor Richard Waters.

“The public toilets in Abergele, particularly the ones at Pensarn, still need a lot doing to them to see them improve, and obviously this costs money as well. It’s a good scheme but we’re not entirely happy with the details.”

It follows the county council being allocated £17,500 to distribute between 35 businesses across Conwy county to encourage them to make their public toilet facilities available to the wider public, which it believes will help give visitors a wider choice of toilets.

Councillors said they would be writing to public houses from across the town in order to gauge reaction to the scheme.

Conwy County Council said it was “disappointed” with the response from Abergele Town Council.

“It is disappointing that Abergele Town Council does not wish to support the scheme because it could provide real benefits to the local community and local businesses. It should be noted that this is a Welsh Assembly Government funded scheme and the money cannot be transferred to be spent on something else,” said a county council spokesperson.

“Abergele businesses are more than welcome to contact us direct if they want to find out more about the Community Toilet Scheme.”

To find out more about the scheme, contact the county council’s Environmental Services on 01492 575337.