The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Broken tiles, leaking sinks, missing seats and smashed windows were all revealed on a council tour of South Holland’s public toilets.
There are nine facilities in the district and the list of problems ranged from mould and no hand dryers to broken windows and missing bins.
A group of councillors and staff from the council toured the district’s toilets in May 2018, the results of which have just been published.
There has been no refurbishment scheme for the public toilets in more than ten years and the annual maintenance budget is £7,500.
A report from the Public Toilets Task Group to members of the performance monitoring panel on Wednesday illustrates the problems.
Holbeach’s toilets need £20,000 spending on repairs and, on the day of the visit, had “a lot of graffiti”, along with damaged locks, no toilet roll, a panel under a sink hanging off, tiles smashed, broken hand dryer and no baby changing provision.
The report said generally standards were variable.
“Members also felt some of the facilities did not support the South Holland Pride initiative,” it added.
The Spalding Sheep Market toilets were described as tatty and stained. The facilities at the bus station had mould on the ceiling, were unclean and had no supplies along with a broken window.
The disabled toilets were said to be attracting vandalism and rough sleepers and needed better locks.
The Ayscoughfee toilets also needed cleaning and there was a bad smell.
Donington didn’t fair much better but disrepair, not cleanliness, was the main issue.
Provision of public toilets is not a legal requirement of the district council, but the task group said there was no question of closing any – but nor did it suggest adding to the current facilities.
But Government changes will mean that the current £16,000 business rate bill for the toilets will come to an end, allowing more money to be spent on them in the future.
A deep cleaning programme is to be undertaken in the next financial year along with the Holbeach repairs.
A refurbishment programme is also to be prepared and completed by 2025. The report also recommended written specifications for cleaning and spot checks.
The signs should also be improved so visitors know where to find them, especially the adult changing facility at the South Holland Centre.
* On Monday morning (January 28), emergency
services were called to an injured man who was found in the Sheep Market disabled toilets.
