Letters round-up: Conwy public toilet closures

Dec 17 2009

I READ with interest and incredulity the County Council’s bizarre idea of closing a number of toilets throughout the County.

In this county tourism is one of our largest employers and income providers.

The very notion of removing/closing/transferring toilets seems short-sighted given the number of tourists who currently use these facilities and the income that they bring to the area.

I know that one of the major fears of tourists, and in particular older visitors and families with young children, is the availability of well-managed and clean toilets.

I am aware that older people feel more comfortable knowing there are facilities within a short walk if they are "caught short" and the very idea of removing these facilities seems that the council takes scant regard for the needs of visitors (or residents) to the area. In essence, killing the Golden Goose!

While I notice that the county council proposes the transference to local community organisations this is not why community groups were established; nor should they be forced into providing services that by rights are the responsibility of local or regional government.

Tourism to the county is the remit of your Leisure and Culture Department and therefore transference of responsibility should be to them and not to community groups, often manned by volunteers who have not the skills nor infrastructure support to manage these facilities.

The reasoning for this proposal "the current financial climate" is a red herring. Your comments using plain English (I am unsure if there is a Plain Welsh campaign) might better read:

"We will transfer the responsibility of a number of toilet facilities to community groups who will have to manage them or lose them!

The council knows the community groups will take the responsibility for them as they value the tourist business and the valuable money that it can provide to sustain local business and the local economy and that it can’t be bothered!"

Jonathan Ellis

Director Make A Difference

I READ with amazement that Conwy Council is proposing to shut down yet more public toilets in the County.

Just what planet are they on?

Tourism is our only major business, we sell 1.5 millions bed nights in Llandudno alone every year. Internal tourism is the fifth largest business in the UK. While our factories have been closing down, tourism is on the rise.

Of course toilets are an easy target for saving a few, very few quid.

The trick is that the local authority does not have a statutory responsibility to provide them.

They are just an easy target. Come to that the council is not required legally required to look after our parks and public places.

Public toilets are called conveniences, they are not a convenience but a vital necessity to anyone took short, as they say, while out and about.

This particularly applies to ladies, children and the disabled.

They are not an optional extra as are flower beds or cutting the grass.

This need applies to the millions of visitors to North Wales who come to enjoy our wonderful seaside and scenery.

Apart from the matter of public hygiene toilets are a vital necessity for the visitor's comfort and enjoyment while here.

After all a large part of our holiday trade is in repeat visits and customer satisfaction is vital to the continued health of our only significant industry.

John Lawson-Reay,

Llandudno

I HAVE just seen the article about the proposed closure of public toilets!

In my opinion this is a ridiculous idea that will impact on health, street cleaning, and tourism in a bad way.

The net result over time will cost more than it saves. We have a large number of old and disabled people living in Conwy and a lot more visiting the seaside towns, many taking water tablets.  If they don't find a toilet when they need one the locals will stop going out very far from home, making a nonsense of mobility legislation and rendering bus passes almost useless.

Holiday makers, after one public inconvenience (no pun intended), will just stop coming to Conwy and tell others not to visit.

Having to pay for the use of a clean toilet would be a better alternative.

Chris O'Brien

Abergele