Toilets Part 2

As feared the Tory lead Cornwall Council Environment and Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee today voted to recommend to the Cabinet that those toilets recommended for closure should be closed.

Penzance will lose the following:

Penzance Penalverne

Penzance Clarence Street (St Clare)

Penzance South Pier

Penzance Superloos (Bus Station, Railway Station & Harbour Car Park)

Penzance Newlyn Fore Street

Penzance Morrab Gardens

Penzance Wherry Town

Penzance Mousehole Harbour

But this by no means the end of the story, the document produced by the working group also states:

‘This would potentially allow the remaining 134 public conveniences to stay open, if they were all managed and operated by Town & Parish Councils.’

So if the town & parish councils refuse to manage and operate the remaining toilets these will also be closed. The Tory lead Cornwall Council will then wheel out its media machine to ensure that Town & Parish Councils get the blame and not them.

Throughout the document produced by the Tory lead Cornwall Council its plagued with inconsistencies:

‘ If a Town or Parish wishes to take over a toilet or toilets then

there is possibly a TUPE situation and the Town or Parish Council

will need to take the current operative over.’

This means that if there is a cleaning contract in place the Town or Parish will have to continue with that contact.

‘It is estimated that Town and Parish Councils cleaning costs would be significantly lower than those incurred by Cornwall Council.’

These two do not seem to go together, and wasn’t the reason to create the Tory led Cornwall Council in the first place ‘The savings of scale the new council will bring’.

‘There is no statutory obligation for Cornwall Council to provide public conveniences’

This is true, but there is also no statutory duty to: Run an airport, give £50,000 to Plymouth's bid to host world cup games, set up a solar power farm, PR, web casting, stadium for Cornwall et al

Already protest groups are gearing up to fight the closures, but please, please remember it’s not your Town and Parish Councils it’s the Tory lead Cornwall Council.

p.s. You may not want to visit a beach in St Ives next summer, they have lost all their beach toilets.