Cllr Jordan has, in the short-term, personally funded the re-opening of the toilets, donating £2,000 from his Community Chest Fund, while the newly-formed Trebarwith Toilets Community Consortium (TTCC) look to make arrangements to take on the running of the toilets in the long-term.
Talking about the re-opening of the toilets, Cllr Jordan said: “I spoke to Peter Marsh (Service Director for Environment) from Cornwall Council and Cornwall Council’s Natural Environment Manager Jon James, and I personally agreed to fund the shortfall until the TTCC are up and running properly, while I’ve also set up a crowdfunder page.
“The reason why I did it is simple. It’s about health and safety over money. It’s terrible that people were paying money for the car park and having no toilets to go to so I felt like it was my duty to help.
“Richard Hart, who is also on the parish council, is the main man behind the TTCC and he’s back from holiday this week so we’re hoping to set up a meeting to get the process started and help them take it on.
“But what is disappointing is that they’re happy to make £100,000 a year from Trebarwith’s car parks but can’t put in £15,000 to keep the toilets open. They’re more than happy to pay for the toilets at Crooklets in Bude so why can’t they do it here?”
The usual 20p a time to use the toilets is still in operation, and both Cllr Jordan and the owner of The Strand Café, which is situated right next to the toilets, Matt Jollye, say that people are paying the money.
Cllr Jordan said: “People have so far been paying the money and that’s great. At the end of the day it’ll only be rate payers paying else. At the end of the day 20p is peanuts, people will happily pay three or four pounds for a beer so they can’t complain about having to pay 20p to keep the toilets open.”
Mr Jollye added: “The café is right next door to the toilets and thankfully people are paying and using them although the signage needs to be sorted as some people who are visiting for the first time are still not sure whether they’re open.
“All the locals and visitors are absolutely over the moon that we have toilets again.
“It was absolutely ridiculous that they were shut in the first place. Trebarwith relies on tourism and the tourist trade and the coastal path is one of the most popular walks in the South West and people need to go to the toilet while some people have medical needs. We also lost business from it. People were paying £6 for the car park and then finding out they weren’t open. One day before 11am, 12/15 potential customers were so angry that they left straight away. Hopefully they can now remain open.”
The Conservative MP for North Cornwall, Scott Mann, has expressed his delight that the toilets have been re-opened.
He said: “The public toilets at Trebarwith Strand are a vital facility for both local residents and tourists. I know that the toilets have been victim to vandalism and I think it’s disgraceful that people get satisfaction from damaging such an important public facility. Any continued closure of the toilets could negatively impact the local economy and pose a threat to public health and safety, so I’m therefore very pleased to hear that they have been re-opened.”
To support Cllr Jordan’s crowdfunder page, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/trebarwith