Toilet closures will leave Aberdour at a loos end
Siew Peng Lee • Published 2 Mar 2012 08:35
2 Comments
ABERDOUR Community Council fears the village could be left at a loos end under Fife Council plans to close public toilets in the Kingdom.
The seaside village stands to lose three public loos as the local authority seeks to save £200,000 by discontinuing council-run toilets across the Kingdom.
Two of the toilets are located next to the new cafe at Silver Sands and the third at the corner of the playpark on Shore Road.
But the community council fears the decision could leave both residents and visitors alike cross-legged, as no suitable alternatives have been put forward.
Aberdour Residents' Association has also contacted the council over the plans.
Community council chair Arthur Lloyd said, "It would be ridiculous that Aberdour, which is supposed to be the jewel of the Fife Riviera, has no public toilets.
"The council is closing all public toilets, which weakens our stance - it's not just us but all of Fife.
"We're pushing for alternatives but we don't know what they'll be.
"The alternatives the council came up with a few months ago, like the railway station and the community centre, are completely unworkable.
"The council is currently doing a feasibility study and will come back to us in due course.
"We would like to see a replacement at Shore Road that the community could help make workable but something like that would require Fife Council to put something in place and there would be a cost."
Despite the loos loss, Mr Lloyd said Silver Sands beach was likely to hold on to its Blue Flag status.
Under Blue Flag criteria, "an adequate number of toilet or restroom facilities must be provided" at the beach.
Mr Lloyd said, "We don't want to lose the Blue Flag but that's almost a side issue - it's not about keeping the toilets to keep the Blue Flag, it's to keep people from crossing their legs!
"There are toilets in the cafe at Silver Sands and the cafe'll be open in the summer.
"The fact that there are toilets available there will mean that we won't lose the Blue Flag. That's my understanding."
Fife Council assured this week that the public toilets would remain until alternatives were found.
Councillor Tony Martin, chair of the environment, enterprise and transportation committee, said, "It is important that communities are reassured that no public toilet facilities will be closed until alternatives are provided within the localities.
"In Fife, we have 31 public conveniences operated by transportation and environment, four of which are seasonal, that is they open from 1st March until 1st November.
"These seasonal toilets have no lighting and heating so cannot be opened in the winter months.
"We do, however, have 85 council facilities that range from libraries, local offices to bus stations with toilets which the public can use free of charge."
The council is also trying to encourage businesses to sign up to the Comfort Break scheme, which would enable visitors to use their toilets.
Councillor Martin said, "The scheme follows a comprehensive review of the publicly available toilets in which it was established that members of the public were generally dissatisfied with some of the existing council facilities on offer.
"The condition of the toilets did not meet customer expectations and the users - particularly women - would seek to use alternative facilities such as cafes and restaurants.
"We will, of course, continue to promote the businesses who are participating in the Comfort Break scheme as the Scottish Government has given us permission to erect signage to direct people to the participating businesses."
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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Jimmynewswatcher
5 posts
Mar 4, 15:10
Report commentAs someone who uses the Silver Sands and remembers what it was like not to have toilets there for a while this is just madness. I cannot believe that these councillors would vote to shut these toilets.
Actually given Mr Martins track record on shutting toilets and failing to grasp the potential of places like the Sliver Sands we should not be surprised. I suggest Mr Martin should have a run down to the Silver sands and indeed the Black sands and see for himself why what he has said does not make any sense when talking about Aberdour.
As a walker of Fife’s Coastal Path the idea that they are going to shut toilets along the seaside villages is one that they have not thought through and they should think again.
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campbell7
1 post
Oct 11, 23:58
Report commentMy friend and I travel by bus, as we have NO car from EDINBURGH TO ABERDOUR very frequently to do a walk - black sands to silver sands. When we dismount the bus we walk down road to the playparrk are to use the toilet facility - mind you half the time it is out of order and NOW you are taking it away. Where do we go??? We are in our seventy's. One time the bowling club let us use their toilet but on WEDNESDAY, 10th instant it was closed. What do we do - decided to walk up to Aberdour Golf Club and they took pit on us and let us use their toilet facility.
Come on Councillors, obviously you are not walkers. The first available TOILET is at the restuarant - you are letting down a lovely place with stunning views across the sea and the place is so clean. People will stop coming to ABERDOUR if you cannot open a toilet facility - you seem to think everybody has cars.
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