Devon council to pay £250k to stop maintaining beach toilet
A small team of cleaners were struggling to keep the popular location's toilets maintained, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.The toilets needed a complete refurbishment after 23 years of heavy use which was estimated at a further £250,000, a report for councillors said.The authority had looked at installing a payment system at the toilets to mitigate some costs, but this was refused by the beach owners.Other lavatories owned and managed by beach owners are kept in much higher standard than those at Saunton beach car park, according to the council.Committee members were told that closing the toilets was not an option.
The council's director of resources Jon Triggs said when the lease was signed in 2002 it was "a different time" when the district council ran many more public conveniences than it did now.In the last couple of years it had made the decision to pass public loos to town and parish councils."This gives us an opportunity to escape from the lease," he said. "It's a financial consideration but will make significant savings moving forward." The council's lease will be surrendered in November.
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