Kilcreggan’s public toilets will reopen next month, the leader of Argyll and Bute Council has said.
The facility near the pier closed over a year ago when the first national lockdown was imposed.
And the doors remained locked even while the council reopened 34 of its 57 public toilets elsewhere, including in Helensburgh and Rhu, with council officials saying reopening them would be too costly.
In November a council report said discussions about a partnership to run Kilcreggan’s public toilets were under way.
But there has been no further update about these talks, and yesterday Robin Currie, who became leader of the authority a few months ago, revealed that there had been a u-turn on the issue.
In an email to a Kilcreggan resident who had complained about the situation and asked for a rethink, Cllr Currie wrote: “In the budget which I put to council a few weeks ago, and was agreed, there was a provision to re-open the public toilets. So public toilets will re-open from April 1.”
Businesses in the village and MSPs pleaded for the toilets to be reopened last year, while residents say they have seen visitors urinating on the toilet walls and using gardens as toilets as the nearest public conveniences were 15 miles away in Rhu.
Hand sanitiser points were fitted last summer and the toilets were painted – but they remained closed to the public, although council staff used the toilets, locking them afterwards and telling the public they were closed.
In September the council said the toilets would reopen, but only on weekdays, with one local councillor welcoming this as ‘great news’.
But five days later officials performed a U-turn, saying that reopening them would mean budget cuts in other areas.
Confused? Here’s a timeline:
- March 24, 2020: Argyll and Bute Council closes all its public toilets
- July 1: The council announces it will start reopening toilets, starting with Inveraray and Oban – those in Helensburgh and Rhu are also subsequently opened
- July 2: CalMac announces the Kilcreggan ferry will return to a full timetable on July 15
- August 13: Councillors decide to keep Kilcreggan’s toilets closed, after a document dated July 30 wrongly states the ferry is still on a reduced service
- September 16: The council states that the toilets will be open weekdays, starting on September 21
- September 21: This was said to be ‘not the best approach’ – the toilets are still shut.
- November 27: The council says talks about a partnership to run the toilets are ongoing
- March 19, 2021: Council leader Robin Currie says the toilets will reopen on April 1.
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