Fears have been raised that closing down public toilets in an Aberdeenshire village could severely damage its economy.
Members of Collieston’s community council have raised concerns over the future of the seaside destination if its public facilities were to close.
And last night secretary of the community council, Sally Sheehan, said she believed tourism in the village would suffer if the facilities were no longer available.
She said: “It’s known that the council wants to close a lot of public toilets, and it’s our concern that without council backing ours will be unable to remain open.
“I think Aberdeenshire Council expected that we may be able to take it on, but frankly we already have so many existing commitments it is not feasible for us to take on responsibility of the public facilities too.
“People come here as a visitor destination for the day, and if there are no toilets available is it a strong concern that this could affect tourism business in the area, something that Collieston relies quite heavily on.”
Collieston is mostly built upon private estate land, meaning that the community council members take on a lot of work, such as grass cutting, path laying and other maintenance jobs themselves.
Currently they are working on repairing the pier, something which is expected to cost in excess of £600,000.
Mrs Sheehan added: “In response the council has told us to think creatively; I think they have tried to think of other ways people could take on the building as a community asset transfer, but it’s a very old building, it’s not an asset at the moment, but more of a liability.
“As the community council, if we could take it on we would, but at the current time we are trying to make repairs to the pier – repairs that have been coasted £600,000.
“I know the council has said it isn’t a statutory obligation for them to provide public toilets, which is fine, but they’re not closing all the toilets in Aberdeenshire, and I think they need to recognise we are desperately in need of ours.”
The possible closure comes as part of the council’s updated public convenience strategy.
Head of property and facilities management for Aberdeenshire council, Allan Whyte, said: “The strategy has a range of aims, including introducing standard opening hours for all public conveniences in each of the summer and winter seasons, the closure of facilities that have the lowest use or are in the poorest condition, and increasing access to conveniences operated by community groups and businesses where possible.
“Officers have been in dialogue with the community in Collieston in an effort to establish a Comfort Partnership or other arrangement in the future, but to date this has unfortunately not been possible.”
