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Fife Council urged to pull the plug on toilet closure plans

The public toilet next to the library in St Andrews which is threatened with closure.
The public toilet next to the library in St Andrews which is threatened with closure.

Fife Council has been urged to pull the plug on plans to close public toilets.

The region’s Liberal Democrat leader Tim Brett said the proposal should be withdrawn immediately and re-done.

Mr Brett claimed the consultation had been “inept” and had resulted in suggestions to close the best toilets in the most popular tourist areas of Fife.

“I can’t believe anybody in their right mind would want to do that,” he said.

“It was said at a council meeting that an officer had believed he had sent out a consultation report to all community councils but virtually none of them have got it because the document he sent was too big. It’s an absolute mess.”

The council has been conducting a cost-cutting review of public conveniences in the last six months in a bid to save £240,000 and among those earmarked are toilets in Crail, Anstruther, Elie, Cupar, Falkland, St Andrews, Burntisland, Kinghorn and Pettycur.

The Labour administration has pledged to look at the economic impact of any changes and the levels and patterns of tourism, as well as the views of communities involved, before making a decision.

However, they say they have no choice but to close toilets after inheriting the policy from the previous SNP/Lib Dem administration.

Critics fear the region’s prized beaches could lose their coveted blue flag status if tourists are caught short.

Mr Brett said: “The best thing to do would be to stop, have a proper look at what has been suggested and start again.

“The argument has been put that this is something we, as the previous administration, had agreed to.

“We had always made it absolutely clear that none should be closed unless or until appropriate alternatives were in place. This hasn’t been done.

“We were hoping we might be able to extend the comfort scheme, whereby private businesses with loos get paid for the public to be able to use them.

“We already have that in some parts of Fife and it’s working successfully in other parts of Scotland.”

The councillor said it was “patently absurd” to say the administration’s plan was a sensible way to proceed, adding: “I can’t believe the administration has looked at what has been proposed.

“They have just accepted what officers have told them and that is due to the fact we no longer have an environment and transportation committee where members could have pointed out the absurdity of this proposal.

“In the meantime, communities are getting alarmed as the consequences for visitors and tourists doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Pat Callaghan, the council’s environment and transportation spokesman, said he was amazed at Mr Brett’s comments.

“They are the ones who put this policy in place I didn’t embrace it with open arms, believe me,” he said.

“It was about saving £240,000 in the budget and that saving was taken last May, so we started the year with no budget. Nobody seems to be advocating toilet closures so why did they call for toilet closures?”