City of Lincoln Council leaders have approved controversial plans to close some public toilets in a bid to save £82,000 a year — despite concerns from local residents and businesses.
Members of the City of Lincoln’s executive committee said during a meeting on Thursday night that it was “not a decision we want to make,” but blamed the authority’s “dire” finances instead.
Members earlier in the night were told that, among other issues, and despite COVID support from government, the council would still face a £1.32 million funding gap in dealing with the pandemic effects.
Council leader Ric Metcalfe said: “I hope people don’t think that somehow the council doesn’t realise how important the toilets are, we are keeping most of our toilets open.”
He said the council had consulted “pretty extensively” on the plans, yet most resident feedback said that without facilities, people would be caught short, leading to unpleasant incidents.
Council officers claim the authority had “reviewed toilets on a number of occasions previously, and it has defended them”.
It’s only now, under severe financial pressure, that this report has to go forward,” said Steve Bird, Assistant Director for Communities and Street Scene.
Members were also reminded that local councils have no legal requirement to provide public toilets.
Councillors also lamented the loss of a number of toilet attendants as part of the plans and thanked them for their service over the years.
At the City of Lincoln Council Executive Meeting on June 24, 2021. | Photo: Daniel Jaines
The authority will close the Victorian urinals at The Lawn, on Union Road and at Newport Arch, while facilities at Lucy Tower will open for special events only.
South Park will also remain closed except for events.
Westgate car park’s toilets will also be “mothballed” with access only to disabled people or via radar key, and during special events such as the Christmas Market, or Steampunk Festival.
The council said there will be suitable alternatives, including the bus station facilities, and those on Tentercroft Street, Castle Square, Hartsholme Country Park and Boultham.
Sincil Street’s ladies toilet will be replaced with a new “modern, unisex” facility within the plans to refurbish the Cornhill Market.
Plans also include adopting contactless payments at public toilets and further consultation on the radar key access system, which could be replaced with a locally-based scheme.
A screenshot of Google Maps showing two routes people could take from the Westgate toilets to the alternatives at Castle Square. | Image: Google
However, the plans have come under criticism from residents and local businesses who believe the move will put visitors off coming to the city, particularly in uphill Lincoln, and compound local issues.
A petition to save Westgate toilets, led by Bailgate business owner Fiona Purkiss, has been signed by more than 900 people since it launched nearly a week ago and was handed to the council ahead of the meeting.
Bailgate business owner Fiona Purkiss was stood outside Westgate Toilets to protest the closures and raise awareness on Monday. | Photo: Daniel Jaines
She said previously: “We local residents need loos open every day. It’s a big visitor area here, they all need to go to the loo.
“It’s a moral obligation, the council is the only body that can provide public services such as loos and they need to reopen them immediately.”
Businesses elsewhere in the city have also launched their own petitions to stop people urinating and defecating in side alleyways, along with other antisocial behaviour — believed to be due to a lack of facilities — by gating up entrances.
Meanwhile Conservative opposition members have said they are also concerned by the plans, adding they were “not visitor friendly, tourist friendly or friendly for the people of Lincoln.”
Following the meeting on Thursday, Councillor Bob Bushell, Portfolio Holder for Remarkable Place, said: “It’s not a decision that we’ve made lightly, it’s not something that we want to do.
“It’s a position that we’ve been forced into by the financial position of the council.
“I understand it’s a genuine concern. And we’re concerned too, but we’re making the best of difficult circumstances.”
He promised the council would be improving signage for visitors to the city to direct people to the nearest alternatives.
In regards to people using local alleys for doing their business, he said: “People have to take personal responsibility.
“If I’m in town and I want to go to the loo, I find out where the loo is and I go to that; I don’t just go down an alleyway.
“There are toilets at the bus station, at the Central Market, at Tentercroft Street — they’re not that far away.
“A lot of these people seem to me are people who have come out of public houses, etc, why didn’t they use the facility in there rather than just doing it in the street?”
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Anglian Water has “a lot to answer for” after a long-running sinkhole debacle, Holbeach’s MP has claimed.
Nearly £500,000 has been spent over the last three years by various authorities attempting to repair the hole on Boston Road South.
People whose lives had been disrupted demanded answers from the water company and council at a town meeting on Wednesday evening.
The delayed sewer works have now been completed, and the road repairs are currently expected to be completed by Friday, August 26.
Most of the anger was directed against Anglian Water for not keeping people informed of what was happening.
Sir John Hayes, MP for South Holland and the Deepings, said: “There has been a breakdown between Lincolnshire County Council. Local people have been put out. Anglian Water have a lot to answer for,” he said.
“It is not acceptable that the people I represent have had to have this since 2019. This cost is our money.
Problems have persisted on Boston Road South for years | Photo: The Lincolnite
“It is not acceptable people not knowing what is happening next. There is also the noise which is affecting people’s lives.
“Only Lincolnshire County Council are taking responsibility and not Anglian Water. People will know who to hold accountable.”
He also called for people to be compensated for their trouble as a gesture of goodwill.
Anglian Water said they were very sorry for not communicating better, and claimed that they had been working closely with the council to fix the problems.
A spokesperson said they would look into compensation.
One resident told the meeting that they hadn’t been informed about recent roadworks, and hadn’t been able to get off their drive for work on Monday.
Lincolnshire County Council apologised for not dropping letters off to all houses affected.
Questions also revealed that tankers full of sewage and storm water were being taken away from the sinkhole daily.
Anglian Water has spent approximately £350,000 trying to rectify the problem, and another £115,000 has come from Lincolnshire County Council.
The road repairs were pushed back from July 4 after Anglian Water said that more time was needed to repair the sewer.
A former pub in Boston will be merged with a neighbouring building to create larger residential home.
Plans have been granted for a new use for the Red Cow Hotel on Wide Bargate.
The pub has had a turbulent history recently, briefly closing and reopening in 2014, before shutting again shortly after.
Planning documents say it’s fallen into a poor sate of repair. However, applicant SHWilkinson Architects Ltd is now working to bring it back into good condition.
Boston Borough Council has granted permission to build a two-storey extension to link it with the Georgians, an 18th century townhouse used as a care home for the elderly.
The extension will be set back from the road so it doesn’t detract from the historic architecture.
Artists impressions show what the larger, combined care home would look like.
The extended care home on Wide Bargate, Boston Photo: SHWilkinson
The recently-approved application states: “The link will allow both buildings to operate under a combined management and staffing rather than two independent staffing units, were they kept separate.”
It adds that the plans are an “opportunity to bring the derelict and deteriorating building back into use and to address localised issues with vermin appearance.”
The buildings’ external features will be restored and replaced where needed.
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