Wednesday 7 August 2013

Where will One Pee in Powys?

Over the border in Herefordshire, all the public toilets have been shut by the County Council to save money. Despite the annoyance and inconvenience (I know!) it seems that Powys County Council want to follow their lead, and shut all the public toilets in Powys!
That is - not all the the toilets. According to the B&R, Councillor Barry Thomas (the chap responsible) says: "We are committed to providing public facilities alongside or near to trunk roads in the county until the end of the financial year and provide a new grant to private companies to open their facilities to the public."
The toilets at Brecon bus station are to close, as well as the ones in Ystradgynlais - it seems that car drivers are more important to the Council than bus passengers (who would have to scoot over the road to Morrisons if they're desperate, I think, as the nearest alternative). They also want town councils and volunteers to take over running the toilets, so here's another example of people being asked to do jobs for no money.
There are public toilets in Hay beside the Clock Tower, and at the Craft Centre. I have a feeling that the Craft Centre ones are owned by the Craft Centre itself, but it means that we would potentially lose the use of the ones by the clock tower, which are in demand during the holiday season (which stretches through the year in Hay because of the books).

Just the other day I was reading a blog called The Cat's Meat Shop, which is running a series of blog posts about Victorian public toilets, and the reasons they were needed in the first place, which include public health, ladies being able to spend a whole day out shopping, and gentlemen lurking down dark alleys to pee up walls. I think maybe Councillor Barry Thomas should have a read of that before he goes ahead with his plans.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps we could find out Cllr Thomas's home address and we could knock on his door and ask to use his lav. Hundreds of us.

Eigon said...

I like that idea!

Reading the Hereford Times today, I find that the Craft Centre toilets are run by the County Council after all, and are expected to be shut down in October if no-one else volunteers to run them.

Anonymous said...

I don't know how many residents of Powys can't understand English, but maybe if the council ditched its Welsh language policy, it could use the money saved to keep its loos open