Agenda item

This report looks at East Devon’s provision of public toilets, trying to set out some guiding principles to ensure we have the right toilet in the right place, whilst also acknowledging the need to review our level of operation to make it more sustainable in terms of budget, especially given the increased costs of enhanced cleaning and necessary building enhancements for protection from Covid-19 and other future epidemics as well as changed hygiene standards.

The Service Lead StreetScene presented this report which looked at East Devon’s provision of public toilets, trying to set out some guiding principles to ensure it had the right toilet in the right place, whilst also acknowledging the need to review the level of operation to make it more sustainable in terms of budget, especially given the increased costs of enhanced cleaning and necessary building enhancements for protection from Covid and other future epidemics as well as changed hygiene standards. Consideration was given to the operating model and paid access facilities as well as levels of provision and quality.

Proposals had been made regarding the categorisation of toilets based on suggested Principles of Provision and levels of use, whilst acknowledging that EDDC could not afford to operate all of its public toilets as before; if providing enhanced facilities and meeting the savings suggestions needed for sustainable budget management.

Discussions included the following:

·        Attention required to the equality aspect of the review for people with mobility issues

·        Concerns for Colyton; the tram carries 90k tourists a year and stops in the town, this could  have an adverse impact on tourism

·        Approval of the report and the intention of saving the council money

·        Ways of payment could be problematic with contactless or cash payments with people not having one or the other. Perhaps looking into the option of prepaid cards

·        The review was not about closing toilets but rather than improving them in whatever way that may be

·        The pandemic has shown how important more than ever public toilets are

·        Town and Parish Councils were able raise their precepts to cover the running of their public facilities. There should be one free of charge toilet in each town

·        Concern that the charging for use of public toilets could have on public health

·        Must consult with Town and Parish Councils on a town by town basis. Need to see how the whole of towns were provided for; EDDC could not dictate this

·        This was an emotive subject. It was not pleasant having to clean some public toilets which were prone to vandalism and abuse

·        Invite all and work collaboratively with Town and Parish Councils to ask if they could run their public toilets more efficiently. Have discussions with the private sector to see if they would take on the running of the toilets.

RESOLVED that Cabinet;

1.     Agree the ‘Principles of Provision’ as the basis for the toilet review to ensure we have ‘the right toilet in the right place’.

2.     Agree the importance of public conveniences to tourism and the local economy and endorse that the Council;

a)     focusses on the provision and support for Category A public conveniences at our key locations on the basis of the Principles of Provision, and

b)     seeks to provide opportunities for others to take on Category B sites, and

c)     offers Category C sites to Town & Parish councils if they feel continued provision here is necessary.

3.     On the basis of Recommendations 1 & 2 agree to a consultation process as detailed in the report (Section 5) to inform decisions on the final category list and the Principles of Provision and ask the Overview Committee to review the consultation responses and equalities assessment and provide its views prior to a final decision being taken.

4.     Agree to consult with all stakeholders to obtain their views of these proposals in order to gain understanding/agreement that:

a.     Our public toilets need investment to modernise them

b.     Investigate charging for their use to protect future provision

c.      Provide a concessionary card for those with medical needs.

5.     Delegate authority to the Portfolio Holder for Coast, County & Environment in consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Economy & Asset Management and Leisure Sport & Tourism and the Strategic Leads for Finance and Housing, Health & Environment to decide the final category lists and conclude negotiations with interested parties around Category B & C toilets;

6.     Consider further whether to install contactless paid access on the retained toilets to enable a future income (£200k p.a.) to help meet deficits and improve toilet standards.

7.     Note that in-house operation is more cost effective than private sector operators and so resolve to continue operation on this basis.

8.     Agree that for the toilets the Council maintains for others (Table 4 of Category A, B & C list);

a. that the service contract costs be increased to cover expenditure to achieve breakeven, achieving a predicted income of around £16,500.

b. should be standardised and full freehold transfer to the town or parish council offered and completed where appropriate.

RECOMMENDED to Council;

9.     Agree that a capital budget of £3.15 million be set as part of the 2022/23 budget for the rebuild or refurbishment of all Category A public toilets (subject to the results of the consultation).

10.  Authorise the use of the Transformation reserve to support enabling costs for any transfers - contribution towards legal / surveyor fees and the cost of splitting utilities to enable transfers.

REASON:

To review the way we provide public toilets; ensuring we continue to maintain important sites whilst reviewing the provision at other sites and capitalising on opportunities for alternative uses; this will help deliver the savings detailed in our Transformation Strategy and Medium Term Financial Plan whilst protecting and improving a core stock of important public toilet sites. The review also proposes to invest in toilets that are retained to ensure the right toilet in the right place, this is important since no capital investment has been made for a number of years. Many of the sites need updating to meet modern standards and expectations as well as incorporating Covid secure/improved hygiene design features.