£34,000 of taxpayers money flushed down the toilet

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Cheshire East Council (CEC) has confirmed that it costs £34,000 a year to operate the public convenience in Alderley Edge.

The automatic public toilet at South Street car park was used a total of 3201 times during 2012, which means the cost per use to local taxpayers is a staggering £10.62.

Members of the public pay 20p to use the public convenience so a total of £640.20 was generated last year which goes to the Council.

Last week I revealed that CEC are looking to transfer responsibility for the pay-per-use toilet at South Street car park to the Parish Council.

Should Alderley Edge Parish Council decide not to run the facility then CEC will close the toilet on 31st March 2015.

Councillor David Topping, Cabinet member in charge of the environment, said: "Cheshire East Council is committed to empowering communities and providing opportunities for the local delivery of services. As you may be aware, this has included proposals to transfer certain facilities and assets into the direct ownership and control of Town and Parish Councils.

"As the provision of Public Conveniences is a discretionary and localised service, they have been part of a range of services offered to Town and Parish Councils. Active discussions have been ongoing to facilitate this with some Town and Parish Councils choosing to undertake their operation, whilst others have declined.

"It costs Cheshire East Council approximately £34,000 per year to operate the public convenience in Alderley Edge.

"Based on last year's usage levels, this equates to a cost to the taxpayer of more than £10 per visit. This is not considered a responsible use of public money and, after inheriting this facility from the former Macclesfield Borough Council, Cheshire East has taken the decision to close it."

The automated toilet was used 3805 times in 2011 and 4008 times in 2010.

Alderley Edge Parish Council has decided to explore the possibility of coming to a financial arrangement with some of the cafes, restaurants and shops in the village who will receive a payment in return for allowing members of the public to use their facilities. A similar scheme has been set up in Poynton, which Cllr Keegan is finding out more about.

What do you think about the cost of operating the public convenience? Is it money well spent? Share your views via the comment box below.

Tags:
Alderley Edge Parish Council, Cheshire East Council, Public Toilets
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Charlie Gaughan
Wednesday 24th April 2013 at 1:40 pm
It seems to cost more than a penny to spend one
Jonathan Savill
Wednesday 24th April 2013 at 3:51 pm
As aesthetically pleasing and technologically advanced as this showpiece "technoloo" is,
it does seem a little too altruistic to provide visitors to the village a £10 plus cost per go.

When I compare the annual running costs of my own conveniences in my flat;
I consider the odd bottle of bleach, reasonably high end toilet roll, those nice smelling hockey pucks that turn the water an attractive deep blue colour, the proportion of my annual water bill and electricity bill associated with these two rooms; even if went on to employ a cleaner and factor in slice of their wages devoted to the maintenance/cleaning of the thrones,going on to employ someone full time to hand collect 20p pieces from visitors to my flat wishing to use the facilities getting them to deposit the takings to the bank each day - I still can't get to £34,000, just can't do it, I tried, I really did but can't get there.

Could the public toilet specialist accountant at City Hall have made some sort of error in the sum formula in the Alderley Edge toilet provisions spreadsheet?
Intuition tells me that it doesn't need to cost so much, there has to be a cheaper solution, surely.
Frank Keegan
Wednesday 24th April 2013 at 4:55 pm
Jonathan,

£34,000 is the cost of the service contract; plus, I am guessing, a bit of overhead recovery from the department dealing with the loo contracts. Overhead recovery is a black art where departments try and pass on central costs to other cost centres.

These specialist contracts only affect the former Macclesfield Borough area, since we were the only council who could afford to provide these loos.
Kevin Shaw
Wednesday 24th April 2013 at 10:34 pm
I think whoever agreed to £34k a year with a 20p a go price needs their heads looking at! By my sums that would need 93 people a day spending a penny (or twenty pennies) to break even. But I guess it's 3600 people not weeing in the street!!
Peter Doff
Thursday 25th April 2013 at 6:25 am
Frank,are they flushing with champagne?
Don't worry about it, it's only our money....
Mark Baildon
Thursday 25th April 2013 at 6:49 am
It would probably work out cheaper to have a permanently manned public convenience
Frank Keegan
Thursday 25th April 2013 at 8:34 am
Patronage has fallen by 20% since 2010 - from 4,008 to 3,201, and even the 4,008 would have been a fall from the initial installation.

We used to have a brick building which was very costly to open/close and police for public decency. Gradually, one of the benefits of the cafe society is the number of bars/cafes with loos which the public frequent and use their facilities. That is why we are now withdrawing the facility. The cost to the Council is not £34,000! The cost will be the contract cost, plus a lump of money to pay for the time of a service department. For example, I guess we could pay two thirds contract and one third charge from a service department.
Alan R Davies
Thursday 25th April 2013 at 5:50 pm
I don't really see why cafes, restaurants and pubs should expect payment. If the additional usage would amount to 10 per day shared between all the establishments in the village then that's not exactly a hardship. If they put stickers in the window offering the use of their facilities it would be good public relations, and would lead to additional footfall and encourage extra trade. The able-bodied amongst us should give some thought to the elderly and those with a medical condition which would restrict them to their homes if they don't have access to toilet facilities when they go out. I know that Manchester City Council have set up a City Loos scheme, although membership seems to be limited to shopping centres, department stores and museums.
Alan Brough
Thursday 25th April 2013 at 9:14 pm
I had supposed that, to use the loos in a bar or cafe you had to be a patron - so, in order to "spend a penny" you would have to pay about £2.50 for a skinny latte or a half of Peroni or something. However Frank seems to be suggesting that this is not the case and the council are closing the public privvy because local bars and restaurants are now offering the facility.

Any arguments - just tell them that Frank sent you.
Duncan Herald
Sunday 5th May 2013 at 10:12 am
Some goodly time ago I asked C.E. whether the super-loo was much used and if it wasn't, might we move it into the Park as there is not any toilet facility there (except the hedgerows and tree belts!).
One CE chap told me that the loo was not much used; another CE chap told me that it was very much used (he implied that the seat hardly had time to cool down!).
Then I found out about the cost... end of interest...keep on with the hedgerows chaps!