Cheshire East Council is to spruce up a free public toilet in Wilmslow, by increasing its cleaning to twice a day. And, in a move to get better value for money, an underused pay-to-use public toilet nearby will close, saving council tax payers more than £17,000.
Council-run free public toilets at Sainsbury’s car park, off South Drive, will get extra cleaning at no extra cost to taxpayers. The facility has a unisex disabled cubicle, four ladies' cubicles and a separate gents' with urinals and three cubicles.
The pay-to-use unisex Automated Public Convenience (APC), in nearby Bank Square, Wilmslow, will close at the end of March. The single-cubicle "Tardis-style" APC toilet, which costs 20p to use, has been provided on contract by JC Decaux at a cost of £17,100 a year to Cheshire East council tax payers.
However, an audit found that the facility, which has disabled access, was "significantly underused". Between August 2008 and July 2009, only 2,070 people used the toilet – at an average cost to taxpayers of £8.26 per visit.
Councillor Rod Menlove, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental services, said: "Cheshire East Council is determined to give value for money to council tax payers while maintaining quality services for the community.
"Closing the underused automated toilet facility will save the local authority many thousands of pounds that can be spent more effectively on other council services for the public."
Gareth Edwards, the council’s streetscape and bereavement services manager, said the extra cleaning of the South Drive toilets would not cost taxpayers more as the work will be done by current staff.
He added: "The use of the APC facility was very light. The closure decision was made on the grounds of efficiency and value for money for the taxpayer."
The contract for the APC toilet was established by the former Macclesfield Borough Council. This authority was replaced by the creation of the unitary Cheshire East Council last April.
