Council claims 'cost-effective' bid is needed to bring vandal-hit toilets back into use
A "viable and cost-effective" bid to bring a Leicestershire town centre's toilets back into use is needed amid growing calls for their reopening, officials have said. Oadby and Wigston Borough Council (OWBC) had closed the toilets "primarily" due to vandalism, but calls have intensified for them to reopen.
One of the affected blocks, at Wigston's Junction Road car park, shut in 2020 following damage including cubicle doors being pulled off, a grab rail being ripped from the wall, an alarm for disabled visitors being smashed and radar door locks being destroyed. At the time, the council said graffiti had also been removed several times from the the block of toilets, and from others in the borough. A toilet in South Wigston at Blaby Park Road had already closed prior to 2020. The Oadby toilet block at East Street also closed in 2020.
Calls for the toilets to reopen has grown in the years since. MP Neil O’Brien is among those to press the council for the toilets to be reopened. He said: “Public toilets in the public car parks in Oadby and Wigston town centres have been shut since the Covid pandemic four years ago. This means that unless people want to go into a café or a pub there is nowhere for people visiting the town centres to go to the toilet."
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Mr O'Brien claimed that the state of the closed facilities was also becoming a problem. He said: "The loos have also become a bit of an eyesore and need doing up. Our local town centres have taken a pounding from the rise of internet shopping. The decision of the local council to bring in parking charges has made matters worse, and has sent people off to out-of-town shopping centres where they can park for free.
"To save local shops and our local town centres we need to make the town centres easier and more attractive to shop in, and getting the loos done up and reopened should be step one. The same goes for toilets in our local parks, which also need reopening."
OWBC said despite the calls, some facilities had remained open, notably the Peace Memorial Park toilets in Wigston. Officials said interested parties needed to put together a "viable and cost-effective" bid to reconsider their closed status.
David Gill, the head of service responsible for Corporate Assets at OWBC said: "The provision of public toilets is a discretionary service and the difficult decision to close public toilets in Oadby and Wigston took place over a number of years. The decision was primarily due to regular vandalism and misuse leading to the costs becoming unsustainable. It is sad that the mindless actions of a few forced the removal of these facilities."
Mr Gill acknowledged the council wanted to see the toilets back in use, adding: “We’d love to see the toilet blocks brought back into use in a viable and cost-effective way and we have been offering a commercial opportunity where businesses could rent part of the building while bringing the toilets back into use. Expressions of interest are very welcome and anyone interested should make contact with the council.”
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