Town council to rethink plans to reopen park toilets?

PLANS to reopen the  public toilets on Bath Road could be revised by the town council.

The council’s major projects working group has questioned the cost of refurbishing the toilet block located next to the skate park in King George V playing field, which was estimated in December last year as being in the region of £100,000.

The group has suggested that other options be investigated, including providing public toilets in the vicinity of the park pavilion.

But cllr Jon Hubbard has raised concerns about the council back-tracking on its plans – which the council has been discussing for two years – and has called for the council to be “up front” with the public about its plans.

“We have told the public that we are going to provide new toilets at Bath Road and are [currently] not doing anything,” said cllr Hubbard at a full town council meeting.

“We need toilets to service King George V playing field,” said cllr Tony Watts,  “and I think that the debate is whether these facilities should be where the old Bath Road toilets are – within that building or to knock it down and replace it with something in that vicinity; or whether it should be up by where the pavilion is.”

“It’s a huge sum of money for a couple of toilets just at the bottom end of town,” added cllr Westbrook. “We want to make certain that if we are going to spend £100,000 on toilets, that this is exactly what we want to do.”

Questioning the estimated £100,000 cost of refurbishment, cllr Hubbard proposed that a local contractor be asked to assess the building.

“Until we have accurate figures in front if us, how can we make an informed decision?” said cllr Hubbard.

Cllr Mike Sankey added that he had been told by local builders that a refurbishment should cost less than £25,000.

At the meeting, councillors resolved to use a local contractor to establish how much a refurbishment of the existing Bath Road toilet block could cost. The project will be brought back to full council at a meeting in the future.

The town council originally announced their intention to reopen the town’s closed public toilets on Bath Road and Church Street in November 2018; prioritising the reopening of the Bath Road toilets, pledging to reopen them “as soon as possible”.

The public toilets on Bath Road and Church Street have been closed since April 2016, after Wiltshire Council withdrew funding for their upkeep.