THE long-running siting of blue temporary toilets in Tavistock's historic town centre sparked an appeal for action during a meeting this week. It is four years since it became clear that urgent action was needed regarding the ageing toilets in Guildhall Square — eventually, they were closed on health and safety grounds in 2006 by West Devon Borough Council, which is responsible for them. After a lengthy period of consultation and meetings, planning consent for a new toilet block was granted last October — but the temporary toilets, in the centre of a gateway site to the West Devon and Cornwall World Heritage Site, are still in situ. At the town council's finance committee on Tuesday former mayor Cllr Jenny Metcalf said: 'People are constantly asking about the abysmal state of the public loos in Guildhall Square, and the fact the new ones haven't even been started yet. 'It really is somewhat staggering.' Cllr Ted Sherrell said: 'It's really unacceptable. These toilets were promised to be started many months ago . Now we are facing the busy tourist season coming up and the temporary toilets are totally inadequate, and not in keeping with the setting of such an historic area. 'I am constantly getting complaints that not even a start has been made on the project.' Cllr Philip Sanders said: 'We are providing some of the finances — it's not just their project, it's a joint project.' And Cllr Mandy Govier said: 'We are still helping pay for them. They gave planning permission for them months ago and they should be getting on with it.' The committee was also concerned that although the town council had committed £50,000 towards the £150,000 figure suggested by the borough council for a new toilet block, this figure had been arrived at four years ago. Members felt taking inflation into account, the final project price tag must have risen considerably. Cllr Jane Ramsey said: 'We need to have some sort of start date, before we get loads of people coming down here. 'And we made the point four years ago that if they didn't get on with it, the costs were going to escalate.' Cllr David Whitcomb said: 'We could end up with an open cheque book situation here. It's going to go up and up and I think that's wrong.' Town mayor Cllr Anne Johnson said as a member of the Guildhall toilets working group, she had been pushing for action on the project. 'It needs to move on. It's a good idea to write and we have to keep putting the pressure on. These things do take time, but there's not as much time as they seem to think there is,' she said. The committee agreed a letter should be sent to the borough council, 'expressing disappointment at its tardiness' regarding the provision of new toilets and urging the authority to treat the project as a matter of urgency — the decision is due to be ratified at the council's meeting on Tuesday. But a borough council spokesman said the authority was this week inviting tenders for the building project — the closing date for applications was February 15 and hoped the work would be completed by June this year. She said: 'West Devon Borough Council and the town council have committed £150,000 to upgrade the toilet facilities, which closed in autumn 2006 — temporary toilets are nearby. 'The new facilities will include baby changing facilities and will be fully compliant with disabled access legislation and as far as possible, will use the facade of the existing building.' The spokesman said the temporary toilets in Guildhall Square have been costing the borough around £284 a month to keep running.
