From Paul Murray

Friday, 3 November 2017

As a local, a dog owner, and granddad I enjoy Calder Holmes Park, and all its activities, but this year has been spoiled by the public toilets being (almost) permanently out of use!  It is a much used public park, with, on occasion, hundreds of people using it. The only relief (sorry) has been those nice folk who run the cafe with their own, single loo.  And now on top of that, the public loos in Valley Road have been closed for around two weeks.  In an attempt to find out what is being done I mailed Councillor Dave Young, who immediately set the enquiry wheels turning. This morning I was copied in to a reply mail from Mr. Andrew Pitts, (head of neighbourhood) I reproduce this with his permission:

"...Hello Councillor Young

It appears that the issue in both cases is serial vandalism, which then requires repair, only to be followed by further vandalism – which is probably why the perception is that the toilets have been closed all summer.

I understand that this is now costing significant amounts, as well as obvious inconvenience to residents.

I wonder if this is something we could discuss further with the Town Council?

One thing I think we could do better is to ensure that signage is placed on the toilets when they are closed, clearly explaining the reason and giving an estimated date for reopening – I will take this up with CAFM.......Andrew Pitts..."

It surely cannot be beyond the wit of the council department to find a way to properly secure these facilities, or, perhaps bring back public flogging for those idiots found causing the damage!     Grrrrr !

Update

Hello neighbours,  Councillor Young's efforts are at least producing information !    I was copied in to this latest mail .................
".......Dear Councillor Young

I have contacted CAFM who are the section responsible for these toilets. The situation is as follows:

Calder Holmes – There has been at least one toilet open all summer  but there have been issues with one toilet not accepting money due to a recurring problem of people putting in match sticks, pieces of wood, chewing gum etc  It is policy that these toilets are not open during the winter but if there was demand they could be opened during the day.

Valley Road - This problem is an electrical fault, where we are waiting for our electrician to sort the problem with the electrical suppliers

Regards,.................."

Name of the officer was supplied but I don't have their e-mail to ask for blessing to reprint here. So there we are. Toilets available again in due course, but for how long?