Helston loos 'privy-tisation' plan
7:00am Friday 2nd November 2012 in Helston
Turnstiles, privatisation and sponsorship are among the options being discussed by Helston Town Council as a way of keeping the town’s public toilets open.
A special meeting of the council’s policy, finance and resources committee saw members discussing the future of the facilities, with toilets currently in Trengrouse Way, behind the Guildhall and next to the Gryll’s Monument. Cornwall Council has offered to continue running one set out of the three, with the remaining two being “mothballed.”
Alternatively the town council can take on one or more of the facilities, with Cornwall Council offering a grant of just under £9,300 towards the cost of running them. The chosen toilets will also be given full disability access and made Disability Discrimination Act compliant.
If the Monument toilets were selected these would also be fully refurbished. Mayor Jonathan Radford-Gaby said: “Cornwall Council is not going to maintain three sets of public conveniences in the town and I think it would be folly for this council to simply look the other way. The time has come for us to make a decision.”
He believed it was “inevitable” that the Trengrouse Way toilets would have to close, but added: “It would be a great shame to see either the toilets here [at the Guildhall] or at the bottom of Coinagehall Street close.”
Councillor Niall Devenish feared that the cost to Helston Town Council of cleaning and maintaining the toilets would be higher than for Cornwall Council, as they took out a countywide contract to push down cost. He believed no decision should be made until research into costs could be carried out. Councillor Sue Swift said it had been suggested elsewhere that towns in West Cornwall could take out a joint cleaning contract to keep costs lower.
The possibility of businesses opening their facilities to members of the public was also being discussed, with Cornwall Council already in talks with a brewery chain. Councillor Keith Reynolds put forward the idea of taking responsibility for two of the facilities and then finding a private company to run them, as this could keep costs lower and was widely practised across Europe. At Mr Radford-Gaby’s suggestion it was agreed to explore this option, as well as Mr Reynolds’s idea to find sponsorship for one of the facilities, plus research charging for use.
This was with a view to the town council taking over the running of the Monument and Guildhall toilets, with further research over costs to be gathered over the next four weeks.
A suggestion by Councillor Mike Thomas, that the committee look at keeping the Guildhall and Monument toilets open full time but also open the Trengrouse Way facilities on events such as Flora Day and the Christmas lights switch on – when he suspected they were “used heavily” – failed to find support.
Comments(21)
veritassleuth
says...
10:08pm Fri 2 Nov 12
Well done to Helston Copuncil for stepping up and doing all they can to keep them open. This is the Helston Council actually doing something useful for a change.
I personally dont care if ronedgecumbe, dozy boze or anyone else runs them, as long as they are kept open and clean. And in London and other big cities you have to pay for nearly every public loo, and as a result they are clean and usable. So why shouldnt this work in Helston.
Interesting suggestion in your competitor paper, which as usual Packet missed, that our councillors give up the pay rise to keep the toilets open. Lets see who they really care about, the community they are supposed to serve or their back pockets.
molesworth
says...
9:51am Sat 3 Nov 12
molesworth
says...
9:52am Sat 3 Nov 12
ronedgcumbe
says...
10:53am Sat 3 Nov 12
It is not the increase I object to it just the timing and the fact that it will have to be found from cuts to services.
Closing toilets could be a disaster for the town centre, but better found here then from cuts to social care which would destroy the lives our most vunerable.
Closing the guildhall toilets makes no sence. As the other two toilets are so disgusting as to be unusable.
Gill Zella Martin
says...
2:51pm Sat 3 Nov 12
The Guildhall would be the obvious choice as they are central, a ramp could be installed outside for disabled access and I cannot see that presenting a problem even on a listed building. Ideally both the Guildhall and Trengrouse Way would remain open, particularly Trengrouse Way as it is ideal for disabled access and those toilets are sited next to a bus stop and bench.
I do not believe turnstiles are a good idea, they are prone to malfunctioning and vandalism and are additionally easy to climb over. Caution should be taken if considering privatization regarding opening and closing times.
veritassleuth
says...
5:58pm Sat 3 Nov 12
Why do the Packet not do a poll, asking if the people who pay their rates for these things want just monument open run by cornwall council, or Helston to take over tow or even better three. If that means they have to be run by private company, surely thats better than closing two of the three.
Over to you packet.
And the point ronedgecumbe makes, the other run by cornwall council are pretty disgusting. No point in complaing, I have done and the answer is "we dont have enough money to clean them more often". You would have if these greedy cornwall councillors did not give themselves 20% pay rise.
meerkats
says...
6:31pm Sat 3 Nov 12
Gill Zella Martin
says...
8:43pm Sat 3 Nov 12
Why could not some of the Sainsbury/Tesco money have been allocated for toilets, the money was supposed to be to offset the ill effects of the supermarkets on the town centre, well obviously toilets are one bonus to supermarkets. I have continually maintained that toilets and free parking are the biggest incentive for town shopping. Unless you can put a great big dome over Helston and make it an indoor centre then you have to at least offer normal 21st centuary facilities for town shopping which include decent toilets. The Guildhall toilets used to be charged for so presumably it became no longer financially viable to have an attendant.
Gill Zella Martin
says...
9:00pm Sat 3 Nov 12
Gill Zella Martin
says...
9:06pm Sat 3 Nov 12
molesworth
says...
10:34pm Sat 3 Nov 12
ronedgcumbe
says...
10:44am Sun 4 Nov 12
veritassleuth
says...
1:42pm Sun 4 Nov 12
Please do pass your idea on to whoever is running this in helston council, because I think they should look at it.
Why cant they use the money from selling the community centre to do something like this. It will give us all clean hygienic toilets and that in itself will stop people ignoring helston because it has no decent toilets.
Please let us all know how you get on.
Best idea yet on packet website.
meerkats
says...
6:00pm Sun 4 Nov 12
Gill Zella Martin
says...
6:28pm Sun 4 Nov 12
veritassleuth, I will pass the idea on but I wont hold my breath, I get the feeling the Town Council are more interested in spending money on asthetically pleasing improvements as opposed to practical useful ones.
meerkats
says...
7:22pm Sun 4 Nov 12
Gill Zella Martin wrote:Thankyou Gill, it will be interesting to see what the Tc's response will be to your suggestion.
I like the rhyming post meerkats.
veritassleuth, I will pass the idea on but I wont hold my breath, I get the feeling the Town Council are more interested in spending money on asthetically pleasing improvements as opposed to practical useful ones.
meerkats
says...
2:15pm Mon 5 Nov 12
Gill Zella Martin
says...
6:49pm Tue 6 Nov 12
meerkats
says...
7:29pm Tue 6 Nov 12
Gill Zella Martin
says...
2:45am Wed 7 Nov 12
meerkats says...
4:00pm Fri 2 Nov 12