Agenda item

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 – Exclusion of Press and Public

The Vice-Chair to move the following:

That under Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public (including the press) be excluded from the meeting as exempt information, of the description set out in the agenda is likely to be disclosed and on balance the public interest is in discussing these items in private session (Part B).

Part B

Options Appraisal March 2026

The Assistant Director Place, Assets & Leisure presented this report concerning the Public Toilets Programme Review, together with a confidential options appraisal.

The report followed a Member briefing to the Overview and Scrutiny committees in July 2025, a report to Overview Committee on 30 September 2025, and recommendations from Cabinet on 4 February 2026 which included the following:

·         The principle, and community benefit, of transferring council-owned public conveniences to town and parish councils with the possibility of the concurrent release of proportional amounts of residual capital funding, subject to the timely review of the existing refurbishment arrangements, and potential transfer protocols, by the Overview Committee to ensure best value for both EDDC and the lower tier authorities.

The Committee was asked to consider the options appraisal and make recommendations to Cabinet in order to inform next steps.

The Vice-Chair moved that under Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public (including the press) be excluded from the meeting as exempt information, of the description set out in the agenda is likely to be disclosed and on balance the public interest is in discussing these items in private session (Part B). The motion was carried by a majority show of hands.

Members discussed the options appraisal and relevant considerations in detail and at length, including the following points:

·         Views were expressed that transferring public toilets to Town and Parish Councils was the only option to protect them going into Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), given that they are a discretionary service.

·         There was no indication that LGR would not go ahead; however, should it halt, the Finance Director explained that the spending review received recently had hit district councils hard and there were significant savings to be made. It would therefore be necessary to look at areas of discretionary spend.

·         It was possible, subject to budget, to complete the Public Toilets programme and, prior to vesting day, enter into conditional contracts with Town and Parish Councils to transfer the toilets on completion of the programme.  This would involve this Council needing to find millions of pounds of additional budget, and would be a Member decision.

·         In the event that this Council completed the Public Toilets programme and retained the assets, the successor authority could nevertheless take the decision to close them or sell the sites for commercial development.

·         If public toilets were transferred to Town and Parish Councils with a dowry then it was suggested that the Town and Parish Councils should be free to decide how the money was spent, without restriction.

·         The Assistant Director explained there was an intention to include contiguous assets such as parks and open spaces in the package offered to Towns and Parish Councils, to make the proposal more attractive and with a view to protecting community assets.

·         One Member suggested that adding contiguous assets would make the proposals more complicated and expensive and could scare Towns and Parish Councils who would not want the cost of maintaining parks and gardens.

·         Another Member expressed that including contiguous assets would be helpful to Towns and Parish Councils, suggesting that Beer Parish Council would want Jubilee Gardens and hardstanding.

·         This Council needed to understand and provide detailed costings to Town and Parish Councils before negotiations could commence, and this work required resource across services including Streetscene, Legal, HR, Finance and Place.

·         It was suggested to have joint working groups between the district and parish and town councils, which could help both tiers of councils to make decisions in a better way and help to spread an understanding of how the transfers could work.

·         The Assistant Director stated that he would check if the Council was in contract with the payment provider to continue charging for the 4 pay-to-use sites.

·         Members considered the role Overview Committee was to have in the Public Toilets Programme moving forward, and indicated that the Committee would like to be appraised with the transfer protocols in order to have oversight of them. 

·         The Assistant Director was asked to also confirm at a later date which sites had been disposed of, so that Overview Committee could consider the remaining sites.

Following the discussion, Members agreed by a majority show of hands, to support the recommendation that public toilets be transferred to Town and Parish Councils in current condition and with a dowry reflecting appropriate share of remaining approved capital budget.