Issue - meetings
Savings - Public Conveniences
Meeting: 09/09/2024 - Cabinet (Item 31)
31 Savings - Public Conveniences 
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Executive Summary |
This report looks at the potential options for the Council owned public conveniences, which are a discretionary service. In light of the worsening financial position of the Council the ongoing cost of management of these facilities needs to be assessed and a plan put in place to reduce the burden on the Council, when funding is required for statutory services.
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Options considered
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Option 1 – Full and Winter Closure Option 2 – Close all sites. Option 3 – Transfer all sites to Town and Parish Councils Option 4 – Do nothing |
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Consultation(s) |
Consultation has been undertaken with the property service team to determine the use of the public toilets within Council ownership.
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Recommendations
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Members are asked to consider the report and recommend the following to Full Council:
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Reasons for recommendations
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The savings generated from this would amount to £46k (Full Year Effect), a combination of budget savings and cost avoidance. This does not include any potential additional savings that might be realised from the Serco contact cleaning costs. This would help to reduce the deficits shown on the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for the coming years, |
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Background papers
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Wards affected |
All |
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Cabinet member(s) |
Cllr Lucy Shires Lucy.shires@north-norfolk.gov.uk |
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Contact Officer |
Tina Stankley Director of Resources Tina.stankley@north-norfolk.gov.uk |
Decision:
Decision
RESOLVED that
Option 1 - Full and winter closures is progressed by officers, for the least well used and most aged sites in terms of management or maintenance, to include discussions with town and parish councils and other interested parties, regarding possible transfer of sites, where there is a particular context for doing so.
Minutes:
The Chairman introduced this item. He said that the Budget Monitoring report had set out the context regarding financial pressures and there were now a number of considerations regarding the Council’s estate and the public conveniences were part of this wider review. He said for some of the sites, the decision was straightforward regarding future ownership. In some cases, the Council did not own the building but operated the facilities on behalf of the community or local businesses. In others, the usage was a factor, especially where it had dropped to a very low level, particularly during the winter months. There were also examples of the facilities no longer suiting the needs of the location.
The Chairman then spoke about Weybourne, where there was no sewage connection to the public conveniences and it was very hard to maintain to a suitable standard and the cost of upgrading it was very high. Regarding Stalham, he said that the intention was to replace this in the future. The location no longer worked for the town and it was hoped to relocate it to the car park at some point. He went onto say that some sites were in locations where there was no income stream for the Council and it made sense to look into the option of transferring them to a partner to operate if possible. He then said that it was not the case that they were not needed but that the best approach would be for another party to operate them. He assured members that there was no intention to immediately start closing toilets but said that the Council was keen to start discussing options with interested stakeholders and representatives from the affected communities, with the aim of keeping them open. He then spoke about the winter closures, mainly in coastal locations but also the Broads. For some, such as Wells, Cromer and Sheringham there was nearby provision that would meet the wintertime demand. Overall, it was hoped to realise about £100k of savings, although there were some contract considerations regarding the Serco cleansing contract.
In conclusion, the Chairman said he hoped he had explained the situation fully. He invited the Portfolio Holder for Finance to comment. Cllr Shires said that the Council was looking to work with partners to ensure that the facilities remained open. The financial pressures which were impacting on housing provision for homeless families in the district meant that all options needed to be considered. She added that the review was in the very early stages and it would be coming back for further consideration later in the year. She acknowledged that it could adversely affect some areas in the district but all options would be considered to ensure that the impact was minimal and where possible, a smooth transition to a partner was put in place.
The Chairman invited members to speak:
Cllr M Taylor, Local member for Stalham, said that he and Cllr Bayes both understood the budgetary pressures that the council was ... view the full minutes text for item 31