Public toilets will close, say district

Ollerton’s only public toilets are set to close after Newark and Sherwood District Council decided they were of poor quality and limited community value.

The toilets, behind Fat Boys on Sycamore Road, will close soon after Ollerton and Boughton Town Council said it could not take over the permanent management and running of the toilets.

The closure follows a review of the public toilets in rural parts of the district.

Last month the district council’s cabinet agreed that the toilets in Blidworth, Clipstone, Southwell and Rainworth be closed.

The town council was again offered the opportunity of taking on a peppercorn rent for the toilets, on the understanding that it bore the responsibility for the full operating costs, but it does not have a budget for this.

The leader of the town council, Mr Ben Wells, said: “For the district council to just come along and decide to close the only public toilets in a growing place like Ollerton and Boughton, I think it is absolutely disgusting.

“There should have been a lot more discussion, and if that meant going into a partnership, then let’s look at that.

“The toilets are not in the best of conditions, but we could work together and perhaps rebuild them jointly.

“People are paying council tax which has gone up but they are taking away facilities. It is not the way to go on.

“The public has a moral right to have these facilities and it does not tally with trying to encourage people into the town.”

Mr Wells said suggestions that private premises such as shops or public houses allow the public to use their toilets was not ideal. He said when these closed in the evenings and weekends, nothing would be available.

The town clerk, Mrs Christine Leivers, said there was no increase in the precept for the council tax to allow the town council take on the toilets.

She said they had been looking after the toilets under an agency agreement for several years. This included responsibility for cleaning and locking up the toilets, but nothing was paid to the town council for upkeep and maintenance.

She said they were looking at alternative sites but the Sycamore Road toilets were set to be demolished. She said a new site would ideally be more central. She said offering use of the Town Hall toilets had been suggested, but this was not appropriate when it was being used for meetings.

She said toilets were included in plans for the redevelopment of the former Courtaulds site between Rufford Avenue and Forest Road, but this was still some way off.