Proposals by Pembrokeshire County Council to close down public toilets by the seaside have been labelled ‘ludicrous’ by local councillors, with the local authority accused of being in danger of contravening the wellbeing act, should they start to shut such facilities.

Tenby’s toilets alongside North Beach and in Upper Frog Street are due to close on November 5 this year, unless a future funding stream is identified, PCC revealed recently.

The council’s Cabinet, recently agreed to recommendations in a report on public toilet provision in the county, that proposes 30-plus toilets -many in seaside towns and villages – be closed from November onwards, unless community asset transfers are agreed or funding streams are identified.

In 2021-22, public toilets cost Pembrokeshire, facing a budget gap of £18.6m, some £600,000.

The report suggested that a one-year sum of money £360,000 could be made available from the affordable housing provision collected from the second homes tax premium to cover provision for public conveniences.

The current cost for providing the toilets through PCC’s existing contract is £17,806 for North Beach and £10,968 for Upper Frog St, per annum - which includes - cleaning, consumables, responsive repairs, utilities, vehicles, management charge and overheads.

County Councillor for Tenby’s North Ward, Cllr Michael Williams told PCC’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee last week that there had been a ‘chronic lack of investment’ in public toilet services across the county down the years, and if the Local Authority are to start closing down public conveniences, then it would be in danger of ‘contravening the wellbeing act’.

“The killer blow that is thrown back at us by the cabinet every year is that the number of toilets we offer per population is very high, I assume that population of course is the resident native population, and doesn’t take into account the increase in tourist population,” he said.

“The native population in Tenby is about 5,000 in the winter, and in the summer that goes up to by about 60,000. Is the figure based on the 60,000, I very much doubt that it is. I think that’s something we should perhaps look at.

“There has been a chronic lack of investment in this service. I regard it as a very basic service over a number of years, and that is something we should be ashamed of.

“The facilities we offer quite frankly in the main are appalling, the cleaning regime is poor at best. Particularly in areas of Tenby. The Frog Street and North Beach facilities are extremely poor, and they serve the main core of the tourist industry in Tenby.

“If we’re serious about promoting tourism, how can we be serious, when we’re withdrawing basic services almost week by week. We’re advertising the place for people to visit, and when they get here, they can’t find what many regard as a basic facility.

“The other thing that rather intrigues me is, we always preface almost everything by referring to the well being and future generations Act 2015, which lays the requirement on local authorities to provide a healthier Wales, both physical and mental. Now I don’t think we’re applying that in Pembrokeshire are we, if we’re reducing facilities such as this.

“And as far as residents are concerned it’s fine, if you’re a resident and you have a requirement you can flee to your home, but if you’re a tourist, you can’t, you have to seek out a publicly provided facility, so I’ve got my concerns.

“It’s all very well talking about asset transfers, but bearing in mind the limited finances of many small community councils, it’s going to put an inordinate strain on their finances.

“But I really think we’re in danger of contravening the wellbeing act, and there could very well be those who might be minded to seek a judicial review on this, because its a basic fundamental service, and that’s one of the few we offer.

“There must be a consideration given to the level on influx we get of tourists during the season. I’ve no idea of what that could be in Pembrokeshire as a whole. But in Tenby town centre itself, it’s 60,000 during peak season, I mean come on get real!” added Cllr Williams.

Correspondence that came before members of Tenby Town Council at their meeting this month (April 4) from PCC’s strategic business manager Katie Daly, laid out the local authority’s position, stating it was facing a ‘difficult financial situation’ which may possibly impact on toilet provision within communities.

“If, before November 5, 2023, we receive an expression of interest to either fully fund the provision going forward, or a commitment that a community asset transfer will be in place by March 31, 2024, the facility will remain open until this date to allow for arrangements to be made - unless a usual winter closure is in place,” she explained.

She went onto state that any toilet which is declared surplus to requirements and closes but is serving, predominantly, the visitor economy will be temporarily retained until the outcome of any future decision on Welsh Government's proposal for introducing a ‘Visitor Levy’ is known.

“I appreciate this is very disappointing news, however the provision of public conveniences is a discretionary service and with such a severe financial situation, we can no longer afford to fund what is more toilets than any other authority in the UK, when we continue to charge the lowest council tax in Wales,” she continued.

“Should your Council wish to retain the facilities there is an option available to you to fund the contract costs to keep them open. We could also investigate if there was an option for possible asset transfers of the facilities. Both these models of funding have been very successful in the past with other Town/Community councils.”

Discussing the matter, Cllr Charles Dale told his colleagues: “We cannot have a beach without toilet provision - it opens up to all sorts of terrible things, like what was happening during lockdowns!”

He noted a point in the Local Authority’s report that stated - ‘should PCC funded toilet closures impact financially disproportionately on a particular Community Council, that a report be brought back to Cabinet to determine whether there is a case for an exception.’

“We are a holiday town, and if you close toilets on one of our premier beaches, tourists will not come to the beach, will not eat in our restaurants, and will not stay in our hotels - so quite frankly it is ludicrous to say it won’t affect Tenby financially!” Cllr Dale told fellow councillors.

Cllr Paul Rapi highlighted that as PCC had ‘no money’ - he wasn’t sure how the matter was going to be resolved.

“Closing a toilet alongside one of our main beaches, really isn’t on. We must look at what they are doing in other places, as I’d be interested to know what toilets are being closed down elsewhere.

Cllr Dai Morgan felt that PCC might be playing ‘Russian roulette’ in putting out the notion that they are considering closing such public facilities, to see if town and community councils will stump up the funds to keep them open.

The Mayor, Cllr Sam Skyrme-Blackhall said that it was significant that PCC seemed to be considering closing the toilets that were free to use, and not the ones that they received revenue from.

She highlighted the fact that if North Beach was to lose the public toilets that serve that section, then the beach had no chance of getting back it’s Blue Flag status.

“We don’t have enough toilets as it is for the town, so to lose more, well we simply can’t allow that to happen!” she stressed.

“This issue could become a crisis for us! We’re not a town like we used to be, where things would close down towards the end of a holiday season.

“We are an all year round destination now. Closing the doors on toilets at 8 pm even in August, shouldn’t be the case either.”

Cllr Laurence Blackhall felt that if TTC were to look at a community asset transfer of the toilets, then he believed it should be the case that they took control of all the town’s public conveniences, and not just the ones that PCC were trying to ditch.

“Castle Beach toilets are 40p a go - so PCC must be making a significant amount of money on them. If we are to look at the toilets in the round, then we look at taking the lot of them,” he said.

He suggested forming a small working group party to consider the matter, and bring suggestions back to the council table for further discussions at a future meeting.

County councillor for Tenby’s North Ward, Cllr Williams told the Observer: “I find it amazing that we should even consider the withdrawal of such a basic service.

“We claim to be a civilised society, which is becoming more and more difficult to substantiate. The reduction of such a basic service would be in direct contravention of the Wellbeing act of 2015.

“Every year I travel to some of the most poverty-stricken Nations on Eastern Europe, not even these so-called poor states seek to reduce such basic services.

“We claim to be a civilised society, and to even consider the withdrawal of such services must seriously make us question such a claim.

“We spend huge sums of money each year attracting tourists, have we any right to do if we fail to offer basic civilised facilities?

“If we value these visitors, and I am afraid that we cant do without them, we must offer basic services,” he added.