Closing the Public Toilets in Huntingdon and Godmanchester

By LongBaker | Thursday, April 15, 2010, 09:36

Having had many comments on the site about the closing of the Public Toilets in Huntingdon and people's concerns, we said we would try to find out more. Well we have spoken with theHuntingdon District Council who have now clarified the position.

Now wash your hands

As was pointed out in one of the comments on this site, these days more shops and supermarkets provide customer toilets than used to be the case and so it could be argued that there is less need for public toilets and the council also believes this to be true.

There is also the need to reduce the Councils spending and as part of the Council’s financial strategy, a potential saving was identified by either transferring public conveniences to town councils or closing them. After discussions the following arrangement have been put in place.

Huntingdon: Huntingdon Town Council has indicated it does not wish to take responsibility, therefore the toilets at Riverside closed from 1 April. A feasibility study is being undertaken into the viability of opening Riverside for special events. Toilets at the bus station will remain open until 1st October while discussions continue with the bus operators about their needs.

Godmanchester: Godmanchester Town Council does not wish to take responsibility for the toilets there. They closed on 1st April. The building is an integral part of the town council’s property and it is proposed to offer them the freehold to do as they wish with it.

St Neots, St Ives and Ramsey will all have there own solutions to this. Some have closed and some may be taken on by the Town Councils.

The Council says that the decision to close the public toilets has not been taken lightly. It feels is has a good reputation of delivering high quality services and is looking for ways to offer value for money. With funding likely to be squeezed for all councils savings will need to be found across a range of services, but do you think closing the public toilets is one of the areas where these savings should be found?

Photo: Goswick

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Comments

In the end the toilet closures are just about cutting services to find the saving you mentioned. It is true that you can't have low local taxes and high levels of services. If the Council Tax is kept low then you either have to spend less on services or you you get debt, which will most likely mean cuts in services later to get the money back. You get the services you are willing to pay in the end.

By gGhostk at 10:56 on 19/04/10
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Pure spin by HDC. There was no survey of the number of user was taken by HDC before deciding to close these facilities. The potential savings are to the HDC budget by pushing the cost of these onto the Town Councils. So HDC looks good with 2.49% increase but St Ives Town Council looks bad with 8.8% increase.
HDC faces has a £6.1 million deficit on a £24 million budget. This is due to the Conservatives keeping the council tax low and spending high.
I'm amazed HDC has a financial strategy. If HDC has one can it let the residents know about this financial strategy? Where are the £6.1 million of cuts going to fall? I've asked these questions before and the silence is deafening!

By snrednek at 10:55 on 15/04/10
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