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.

Toilets

Toilets, after dogs, the one subject area that as a councillor I try to steer well clear of, but the plans of the Tory led Cornwall Council to close the majority of public toilets in Penzance will be moving this most contentious of areas to the top of the political agenda for some little while I fancy.

This could well turn the Battle of Battery Rock into nothing but a small skirmish, in the Tory led Cornwall Councils flapping around to cut as many services as it feels it can get away with, this could well be the one that will be remembered and lead to their downfall.

In Penzance the plan is to close EIGHT (8), yes you read that correctly, they plan to close 8 public toilets, this number is only matched by St Ives with 7, it makes you wonder what we have done to upset them.

As a comparison our capital Truro 4, the largest town in Cornwall St Austell 1, Camborne, Redruth And Pool  3 between them, Falmouth 1. In total the plan is to close 114 of the 248 public toilets in Cornwall. I’m so pleased we are all in this together, but even more so in the west.

I will not list here the full list but one that I will comment on the one listed as ‘Superloos’, to those not familiar with Penzance these are the toilets in the block at the Bus Station, Railway Station and Harbour Car Park also known as ‘The Transport Interchange’, right next door to the abandoned Tourist Information Office closed by the Tory Led Cornwall Council, so whether you come to Penzance by Train, Bus or Car you will be welcomed, well actually you won’t be, by closed toilets and  Tourist Information Office.  

The Tory led Cornwall Council hopes that the towns and parishes will take over the running of the toilets proposed to be closed, on the figures listed by the Tory led Cornwall Council without cleaning costs, the cost to Penzance Town Council would be £87,527.91 now that would really blow a very large hole in the towns (in comparison with the Tory led Cornwall Councils) budget or we would have to raise the council tax, but you have already paid for this service once to the Tory led Cornwall Council, so in effect you would be paying twice, the same applies to even the smallest parish council losing the only public toilet in the village, the cost to them will still be a very high proportion of their budget, I’m so pleased we are all in this together.

I’m sure I will be writing about this again, until then keep them crossed.