As many of you are aware, Cornwall Council is in the process
of relinquishing its management of public toilets. A number of concerned constituents have
contacted me about this issue and I agree with their concerns.
The tourist industry is vital to Cornwall’s economy and the
provision of public toilets, especially in the tourist hotspots, is a key part
of the overall service that tourists expect.
Local people also use these important community facilities.
The responsibility for the provision of public toilets does
not legally sit with any particular Government body, although local councils
have historically taken on this important role.
As Cornwall Council continues its programme of cutting services to save
money public toilets have become one of the more controversial areas it has
targeted.
Cornwall Council’s approach has been to threaten to close
local facilities unless the local Town or Parish Council agrees to take on the
cost of keeping them open. Whilst some of the larger local councils have the
capacity to do this, many smaller parishes have found this a real challenge.
One of the issues these local councils face is that public
toilets are liable for business rates. As crazy as this seems it has been this
way for many years. With little or no revenue to cover these costs, councils
are finding it impossible to find the funds to run the service which often run
into tens, even hundreds, of thousands of pounds per year.
When the Prime Minister was in the constituency a few days
ago, the six Cornish MPs, including myself, raised the issue of business rates
on public toilets with him. He acknowledged
the problem and was grateful that we had highlighted this issue to him. I followed up the conversation with a letter
to him, laying out my position.
In light of the current business rates review, I asked the
Prime Minster and Greg Clark, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, that
serious consideration be given to the case for making public toilets exempt
from business rates, especially when run by not-for-profit entities.
The Prime Minister then spoke about the conversation with
the six MPs on local radio. He said “The whole issue of how public
toilets are treated for business rates for instance is an issue they want to
put very firmly on table and I think that is important.
“It may
sound to some people like a fringe issue – but when you are dealing with
wanting to have lots of tourists, with having lots of beach resorts, this is a
really important issue.
"Of
course, there is more that we can do – and I know that we will be looking at
all these things.”
The removal
of the business rates is not the silver bullet for this issue but it should go
a long way to help the smaller local councils provide this vital service. I will be working to ensure that the review
does consider my request, as this will be a big boost for our communities in
Cornwall.
