The local council has laid out plans for saving taxpayer’s money on toilet spending.
Aaron Spencer, portfolio holder for finance said “The transformation programme is all about saving rate-payer’s money and keeping services at current levels, if not improve them.”
The toilets in the town cost the local authority just over £200,000 a year[1] and the local authority has been in discussions to slash spending by 75%.
Cllr. Spencer said: “No decision has yet been made around this. We are simply looking at ways of saving money and would welcome any feedback from the public about the toilets that we all pay for and I’ll be reading the comments column on Facebook and the local press closely to see what you all think. We are here to represent all of our residents and want to make sure that we provide the services you want.”
Despite this, the cost of running public toilets is not one covered by statutory provision, meaning that there is no law that a council HAS to provide toilets.
One of the suggestions was to have a scheme whereby the businesses in the town centre would be asked to open their customer’s toilets to the public. Articles in the Target[2] suggest that this would be a widely supported measure, however some businesses are unwilling to allow the public in.
Peter Bedford, Conservative leader of Boston Council, said: “These are challenging times and demand challenging solutions. The borough council has done well so far to meet its austerity obligations. Now is the time for others to join in partnership with the council; it's not the council's borough, it's your borough. We are looking to provide services differently or find new ways of paying for them. I hope we can have realistic and sensible discussions about the ways forward.” T
he rates that businesses pay on toilet space inside their business property is currently set at £0 per square foot, so toilet space for their customers and staff is subsidised by other taxes. Local Conservatives are considering a scheme whereby shop owners are paid extra for opening their toilets to the public.
Cllr. Spencer said: “We all want to support the district's most vulnerable residents and invest in the local economy. Your council must be as efficient as possible in all its work, as well as looking at different funding options.”