Bath & North East Somerset Council’s plans to improve public toilets across the district is nearing completion.
New toilets at Henrietta Park were re-opened for use on March 13 and those in the Royal Victoria Park children’s play area will re-open on Friday March 27, on schedule, before the Easter holiday period.
From later in April, Newbridge Park & Ride will have toilets for the first time, for use by commuters, shoppers and other visitors to Bath who use the expanded car parking and bus services into the city centre.
The Council’s contract with Healthmatic Ltd will provide investment in cleaning and management services for 15 years, and means that 16 public toilets in parks, play areas, green spaces and key transport hubs will remain open and be improved.
Cllr David Dixon (Lib Dem, Oldfield), Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “I’m delighted that new, modern, clean toilets are now being put in place across the district. People are telling me every day what a great improvement these new facilities are – they are much improved, cleaner and safer to use and certainly worth 20p.”
The new public toilets will have many benefits for local people, including:
• Cubicles will be unisex, disability compliant and will have baby-change facilities
• The cubicles offer a high standard of cleanliness and safety and are able to handle large numbers of people using them
• They are large enough for a parent with a couple of small children and a pushchair to use together
• High-tech controls means access can be 24 hours / 7 days a week all year and timers can be adjusted remotely to suit local need as well
• Access is by coin entry to a totally private cubicle with its own hand-washing and drying facilities
• The inside is resistant to vandalism and misuse with an easy-clean tiled interior and hard-wearing fittings
• Problems are detected remotely enabling rapid response by Healthmatic’s engineering and maintenance teams
All of the refurbished facilities will be charged at 20p for use, in order to make the contract sustainable over the next 15 years.
