Toilet petition handed in

Jamie MacDonald • Published 28 Apr 2010 11:01 4 Comments

THE 'Save oor lavvies' petition protesting against Clackmannanshire Council's decision to axe public toilets in Alloa town centre was handed in last Wednesday.

Alloa Central Community Council has led opposition to the closure of the facilities at Maple Court and their petition received 2400 signatures by the time it made it to Greenfield House.

No one at the council was available to receive the petition on film from Anna Forbes, chair of the community council, but in her hunt for someone to hand it to she did discover a toilet with baby changing facilities.

Anna told the Advertiser, "To me public toilets are a vital service. As well as shoppers supporting it, I went around the shops in the town and all the shopkeepers supported the petition.

"Doing away with the toilet facilities is very short sighted and is sheer incompetence and bad management."

In place of the public toilets shoppers are being directed to Tesco and Asda or the council run Speirs Centre on Primrose Street.

Anna added that she had already been told of people who had struggled to make it to either of the supermarkets in time after being caught short.

Anna continued, "We hope common sense will show that people need to have a public toilet in the town centre."

The public loos in Tullibody and Tillicoultry will also be closed to generate a saving of £68,000 to the cash strapped council who voted to cut the facilities when passing its budget for 2010-11.

In last week's Advertiser council leader Janet Cadenhead said closing the toilets was preferable to cutting services that vulnerable people rely on.

She added, "The decision to close the Maple Court toilets as part of the budget savings was taken in the knowledge that reasonable alternatives were available."

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• 

  meg
  Unregistered User
  Apr 28, 23:06
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  if less money was spent on statues and pictures by local councils and less freebies there might be more money in coffers for what is really needed the toilets were a credit to the workers for how clean they were.but hay ho I am only a member of the public and not from the closed circuit
  
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• 

  Clarence Bishop
  Unregistered User
  Apr 30, 09:52
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  I'm just going to go in the nearest garden or doorway from now on. If I get lifted, I can blame it on spending cuts then sue the council for landing me in bother with the Peelers.
  
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• 

  F.E.Sharpe
  Unregistered User
  May 3, 20:21
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  Readers after election day the number 10 web site should reopen again and you should be able to support a countrywide petition to try to get local authorities to provide more public toilets instead of closeing them.
  
  The petition can be viewed at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/publictoiletkeep/
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

• 

  wee eln
  Unregistered User
  May 4, 21:32
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  The council has spent a lot of money from there own budget...on statues and art works. They spend money on flowers for offices (is that a public service). The chief exec gets paid over £100k a year. For what ? But this dovey council closes the most important public service. We are trying to encourage people to come in to Alloa and other towns. A town with no toilets,what a good advert that is. Are the toilets at Greenfield house ever open...yes, when you ask for a key. Use a bit of common sense on this 1 councillors. Get rid of the council perks (SL1 FOR A START). Whats the cost to keep that taxi on the road,or should i say mail van.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

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