The local council in Powys has launched a public consultation into the future of public toilets in the area, a recent news report in the local media has been able to suggest.
Toilets in council buildings, the use of private businesses toilets and other ideas are being published in the draft strategy as suggestions to improve public access to toilets.
Councillor Phyl Davies, cabinet member for highways, recycling and assets, said: “The council has a statutory duty to prepare and publish a public toilet strategy by May 2019. Last year we held a public consultation on provision and produced a draft strategy.
“Unfortunately there is no budget from Welsh Government to create or improve public toilets but we have listed 20 actions in the draft that we feel can be taken forward in collaboration with other organisations and town and community councils.”
Consultation on the draft opens on January 22 and runs until April 14. The council will consider comments received and amend the draft as necessary and approving the strategy for implementation in June.
We approve of the council’s decision to start charging fees for the toilets. Understandably this is a sore spot with some members of the public, who believe that public toilets should be completely open access. However, funding public toilets is a severe struggle for local councils, and it is often neglected in favour of more immediately important options.
In order to provide public toilets, some sort of funding is necessary! Many train stations and other areas which have fee-paying toilets install machines which can produce change from notes, so that the public don’t need to worry about that element of it.
Our toilet turnstiles are built from graded stainless steel, for easier cleaning and maintenance, and also come equipped with lockable lids to prevent unwanted access. Furthermore, the separate coin box offers very versatile mounting options, as it can be installed either in front of the turnstile, at the side or alternatively, on the wall, with the cash box at the rear.
The turnstile’s coin mechanism can be programmed for virtually any combination of coins with a secure cash box to hold them, while the additional counters for the number of entries made will enable a thorough level of control over the system’s operation, and a useful audit trail.
They need no routine maintenance and come with a 2-year warranty.