Falkirk Council: Call to reopen public toilets in three towns across the district

Labour councillor Alan Nimmo says the loss of the public toilets in Grangemouth, Bo’ness and Falkirk has badly impacted disabled people in particular. Six months after the closure was agreed he is urging his fellow councillors to accept it was “the wrong decision,” in a motion that he hopes will be debated at a Falkirk Council meeting next week.

Councillor Nimmo said he is particularly concerned about his own ward in Grangemouth. He said: “I think it is very short-sighted when we are trying to encourage footfall into our town centres. It formed part of my election campaign in May and I got a lot of support then.

“I’ve had quite a few enquiries and complaints since then. It affects a lot of people, including taxi drivers who used the facilities, as well as disabled people and families with children. In Grangemouth, there is nowhere else to go. A lot of shops won’t allow the public in to use the facilities if they are not customers.”

The motion to council will be seconded by Independent councillor for Bo’ness, Ann Ritchie. The decision to close public toilets in Bo’ness was one of the reasons that persuaded her to leave the SNP and stand as an independent candidate in May’s elections.

In the motion that will go to council, councillor Nimmo says that all three facilities remain intact and need only to have water and electricity re-connected. He would like to see them reopen as soon as staff could be recruited. The cost to the council would be around £12,000 per month.

Labour’s former leader, Provost Robert Bissett, has also submitted a motion to the meeting, calling on the council to reverse its decision to charge for parking after 3 pm. Stopping the Free after Three scheme in council-owned car parks in Falkirk town centre is saving the council £50,000 a year.

Provost Bissett believes the change has had a “detrimental effect on the town centre that is not justified by the small saving achieved.”

However, Falkirk Council’s meeting next week will also contain a report looking ahead to next year’s budget, which makes grim reading for councillors. It shows that even with all departments making savings – such as charges for brown bins and special uplifts that have just been agreed – and a recruitment freeze in place, there will still be shortfall of £11 million next year alone.

Councillors are warned in the report that they “should be extremely cautious about agreeing to any new financial commitments.”

Not all of the motions being put forward at Wednesday’s meeting will be accepted for debate and some may be referred to the council’s executive instead.