Park public toilets to reopen

MELKSHAM Town Council has pledged to reopen the public toilets on Bath Road as soon as possible.

The public toilets located near King George V playing field could reopen as soon as next month. The council also has plans to reopen the toilets on Church Street. 

The business rate relief on public toilets for councils, announced in the Government’s Budget last year, will not come into force until 2021, but the town council has agreed to proceed with their plans now.

At last week’s town council asset management committee meeting, deputy mayor cllr Jon Hubbard said, “I propose that we use available funding to make sure that at the very least, we open Bath Road toilets and if there’s enough money in the pot, open Church Street as well. Let’s open them at the earliest possible opportunity.”

The public toilets have been closed since April 2016, after Wiltshire Council withdrew funding for their upkeep. Currently, the town centre’s only toilet block open to the public is in the Market Place. They are owned by the town council and joint-funded with Melksham Without Parish Council.