Council considers more loo fees following £1 charge

3 hours ago

Phil ShepkaCambridgeshire

News image — People had to start paying £1 to use the toilets on Silver Street in Cambridge when they reopened in the summer

Qays Najm/BBC A view of the silver payment tower from above. It says "Pay Here", with Chinese writing underneath. — People had to start paying £1 to use the toilets on Silver Street in Cambridge when they reopened in the summer

A council that introduced a £1 fee for new city centre public loos is considering charging for other toilets.

In the summer, Cambridge City Council defended charging for the facilities on Silver Street bridge, which replaced the old conveniences at a cost of nearly £1m.

The authority is now looking into contactless payments as part of the reopening of Quayside toilets off Bridge Street, near Jesus Green.

The council's cabinet on Wednesday heard plans for the future operating model for the toilets, including charging mechanisms, were in the early stages.

The toilets on Silver Street are close to the 18th Century Mathematical Bridge at Queens' College, a popular site for tourists, while coaches often park nearby too.

Councillors discussed the reopening of the Quayside toilets and those on Parker's Piece, which the meeting heard had been closed for more than a year.

It is estimated Quayside will cost £52,000 a year to operate, while the Parker's Piece facilities would cost £36,000 annually.

Closed public toilets, housed in a yellow building. There is a yellow "1x20p Coin Only" sign which also says "Engaged" and "Vacant". — The meeting heard old 20p machines - pictured here on the Parker's Piece facilities - were not repaired when they broke

Labour's Martin Smart told councillors free public toilets had been available in Cambridge for some time, and when some conveniences' 20p payment machines broke they were "purposefully" not repaired.

"As the cabinet member in charge of toilets, I thought that worked well," he said.

"However, there's always the exception to the rule - with Silver Street there's a rather different case.

"The toilet itself cost a lot of money, it costs a lot to maintain... it's very sensible to charge at that toilet."

Smart added if the Silver Street payment system was judged by councillors to work, the council may want to charge for its other toilets.

Phil Shepka/BBC A street sign "Quayside" is mounted to black railings in front of a grey building below. A river flows behind it, with punts moored up. Three-storey red brick college buildings stand on the other side of the river bank. — Quayside toilets are located next to the River Cam and close to Magdalene College

Cabinet agreed the recommendation that officers "progress the introduction of contactless payment at Quayside, subject to technical feasibility, accessibility, affordability and value for money".

Tim Bick, leader of the council's Liberal Democrats, said: "It's better to have available public toilets that are charged than no public toilets, but that may be something that needs to be informed by evidence when we get it."

Sefira Davison, Green leader, said: "Whatever the financial reality happens to be once these costings are through... it's worth looking at carefully to see where we can minimise that cost as far as possible for residents."

In response to that, the council's Labour leader Katie Thornburrow said: "We would like to keep free toilets in the city, but we can see the success of the Silver Street toilets, which are mainly used by visitors, and I think it's right that we seriously consider Quayside, where there's a lot of visitors using that."