PUBLIC conveniences were again up for discussion at Bude-Stratton Town Council last week, when it was made clear that the toilets will not close after all.

Liberal Democrat Cornwall Councillor for Bude David Parsons told the full council at the Parkhouse Centre last Thursday that Bude had obtained ‘an unbelievable deal’ due to the firm stance the town council had taken over the running of the toilets.

The devolution of public toilets from Cornwall Council has been widespread, with some towns, including Newquay and Falmouth, taking on the running of their facilities, but Bude-Stratton Town Council demanded more information on the financial implications before committing to do so.

After meeting Cornwall Council’s natural environment officer at the end of January, town councillors were told the toilets were to close on March 31 if the town council did not agree to take them on.

Since then Cornwall Council has altered its stance, saying that public conveniences in Bude are not due to close this spring, and that ‘if Bude Town Council decide not to take them over, another source of funding has been secured’.

Cornwall Council also indicated that the town council was going to decide at its meeting last Thursday whether or not it will manage the toilets as of April 1, but mayor Cllr Lea Deely said: “This was never the intention since we have not received sufficient information regarding the financial implications for the town in doing so. Negotiations are still in progress.

“We have also received the following statement from Cornwall Council: ‘There was no intention to put pressure on the town council, as discussions are currently under way with them about the toilets and apologise if the response has caused any issues for them. The intention was to reassure people that we are working with Bude-Stratton Town Council to find a solution for the public toilets in Bude’.”

Cllr Parsons did add that in six to nine months’ time, all public toilets would be passed over to town councils.

He said: “At the end of the day, Bude will eventually have to run the toilets with some form of funding stream.

“The only other council to get a similar deal is Poundstock, and the advantage of that is you could work together on something.

“You’ve [Bude-Stratton Town Council] got a great deal in comparison to anyone else.

“The fact is Cornwall Council are worried about the reputational damage having those toilets closed will cause. You’ve got the deal because of the beach huts.”

Cornwall Council’s east sub-area planning committee meeting on February 29, approved Cornwall Council’s own application for new beach huts at Crooklets, despite concerns raised by town councillors.

At that meeting other Cornwall Councillors on the sub committee also expressed concerns that if Cornwall Council has enough money to fund the beach huts, it has enough to fund the toilets as well.

Bude-Stratton Town Council formed a ‘working group’ approximately six weeks ago to look into the subject of public toilets, libraries etc, and report back to full council any updates as and when they occur, but as group member Cllr Alan Biggs pointed out, since the group formed anything other than toilets had been put on a back-burner, so they could come up with a solution to stop them from closing.

He said one option was to enter into a ‘tenancy at will’, which he explained would be a ‘very impermanent’ tenancy of the toilets.

Cllr Biggs added: “As we’re quite late into it, we’ve not had enough information about the costs of running the toilets to decide if we can take them on or not, so by entering into a tenancy at will, it is simply a stop-gap measure, effectively telling Cornwall Council we are mindful to take on the toilets, but we want to do some due diligence.

“From the time we sign the tenancy at will, we are committed to paying for them. It’s a very short-lived instrument — we can pull out of it with 24 hours’ notice.”

He said the expectation is that there will be a levy put on the car park, which he felt was the fairest way: “The majority of people that will be using the toilets will be the ones paying for them — as in the visitors to Bude parking in the car park, using the beaches etc, will invariably be the ones that use the toilets the most.

“In the meantime we will continue negotiating back and forth with Cornwall Council until we have the best deal we can get.

“I expect things to be wrapped up within three months.”

Cllr Jeremy Heard proposed that the council enter into the tenancy at will and this was passed with a majority in favour.