THE future of the public toilets in West Devon is still unknown, following a meeting of a borough council committee to discuss ways to make a £50,000 saving from the public conveniences budget.

An original recommendation to West Devon Borough Council’s hub committee, which met on Tuesday, was to consider four options­— closing or devolving six facilities in rural locations to town or parish councils (Brentor, Bedford Bridge in Horrabridge, Chagford, Hatherleigh, Lydford and Yelverton), closing facilities in Tavistock and Okehampton where other options are available in the towns, the closure of low footfall facilities in rural locations coupled with pay on entry in high footfall areas or the closure of all public toilets.

However, at the meeting, a revised recommendation was put forward to approve and deliver savings of £50,000 or more in the next financial year (2019/20) by considering a combination of the provision of pay on entry systems, closure of toilet facilities where adequate provision may be found within reasonable proximity or where footfall is not such to justify continued provision and the transfer of toilet facilities to parishes or other partners where agreement can be reached to maintain service continuity. This would be subject to seeking the authority of the council for any closures to be considered.

Cllr Robert Sampson, who made the revised recommendation, pointed out that contrary to the impression that may have been gained among the public, closure decisions were not being decided at the meeting but they were committing to saving from the budget and giving officers a ‘recommendation on how to achieve that saving’.

Concern was raised among officers about the health and well-being responsibility of the council to provide public conveniences.

Cllr Neil Jory said: ‘Clearly we have got to make savings but we can’t ignore our health and well-being responsibilities to the communities we serve. If we can we should look at some kind of shared responsibility.’

Officers discussed the possibility of devolving ownership of the toilets to town and parish councils with the possibility of contributing to running costs or the possibility of shared ownership/responsibility so as not to put too much of a financial burden on already struggling town and parish council budgets. It was felt that consultation with town and parish councils should be undertaken to gain their views.

Cllr Bill Cann, who sits on South Tawton Parish Council, which has responsibility of its public toilets, said that devolution of responsibility was not a cheap option for parish councils: ‘Twenty eight percent of our budget goes on the toilets which is quite a considerable drain. I also notice that the current cost of repairs and maintenance could be done a lot cheaper. Smaller businesses would do it [cleaning contract] a lot cheaper. There is lots to look at here before we go too much further.’

Before the vote was taken, Cllr Sampson said: ‘We are not making decisions today other than finding savings. We are looking to put together a package to make those savings. Your comments have all been helpful and noted. Tourism is important and has to be considered and there must be consultation with town and parish councils. I think we should now await developments but not encourage suggestions that we are on for wholesale closures.’

The committee voted unanimously to approve the revised recommendation.

This year, the council faced a budget shortfall of £749,000 for 2019/20 and, in order to help address this challenge, councillors set up their own Financial Stability Member group, to review areas where it was felt savings could be made. It was felt that the continued provision of discretionary services was an area that needed to be considered. The Financial Stability Member group modelled an indicative saving of £50,000 on the public toilet budget for 2019/20 to reflect the direction of travel they felt was needed for this discretionary service and officers were requested to propose ways in which such a saving could be made.