I WRITE as Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services at Poole on the subject of toilet closures, as I feel the record has to be put straight on both the history and the current provision of toilets within Poole and elsewhere.

In February 2014, following a review of public toilet provision by cross party Overview and Scrutiny committee, it was resolved in full council that £300k be removed from the public toilets annual budget, as part of the general need to reduce budgets to protect core statutory services like adults and children’s social care.

This decision went through unopposed and represented 62 per cent of the toilets budget in Poole. All of the toilets closures in Poole since that time are simply the implementation of that decision, carried out over three years.

It must be noted that there is no statutory duty to provide public toilets and over the past decade around half of the public toilets in the country have closed.

Here in Poole, through the innovative Community Toilet Scheme (CTS), and by the council managing to keep open half its own public toilets, the situation could not be more different. Between the two, Poole has a total of about 35 toilet facilities open to the public, including 15 open council-run public toilets - several more than when the closures started!

The CTS toilets are clean, well maintained, and less open to abuse compared with the closed facilities, which were not only expensive to run, but also in dire need of refurbishment and constantly subject to vandalism.

There are toilets available near the bus station at the Lighthouse and Dolphin Centre. On Ashley Road there are three good clean toilets available in place of the one disgusting offer on Jubilee Road. And it doesn’t stop there. Environmental Services are exploring alternative provision by external providers at sites where toilets are closed in more challenging locations. While we can’t guarantee these ventures will come to fruition until it happens, we are optimistic that they will, and work is progressing well.

We are working within the real, fast changing world to provide good services in all areas with ever reducing resource. Even where toilets have closed, there is provision within 10- 15 minutes walk. It is interesting that those who decry the changes have come up with no better ideas.

JOHN RAMPTON

Portfolio Holder for the environment and consumer protection

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