PUBLIC toilets in the town centre could be saved from closure as the town council is expected to take them on when Wiltshire Council cuts the funding this year.
Councillors, who were due to discuss the matter on Monday this week, face the decision between paying to keep the town’s public toilets open, or seeing them close for good.
Councillor Gordon King told White Horse News he thinks the toilets are a necessity and should be kept open.
He has recommended that the facilities in the High Street car park and on Warminster Road be leased from Wiltshire Council, and the Grassacres Park and cemetery facilities be taken over at a later date.
Cllr King said, “I am confident that the council will back me up in making sure these toilets are kept open. The facilities are a great social and welfare asset to the town; they are important and in some cases necessary to local people.
“They are especially important to older people who, if they live outside of the town centre, may not feel confident about going out if there aren’t facilities in the town. If people were to stay at home because there were no toilets in town, it could affect their independence and cause loneliness.”
Wiltshire Council announced it would stop maintaining public toilets as part of the county-wide service cuts being seen this year.
“We didn’t like the pressured approach Wiltshire Council took to telling us there was no longer a budget for maintaining the facilities,” cllr King said.
“We heard that the council spent £24,000 per year on those two toilet blocks; whether we can find a cheaper way of doing it remains to be seen.”
