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Row erupts over Buckie public toilet provision and opening hours


By Alan Beresford

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MORAY MP Douglas Ross has slammed the level of public toilet provision in Buckie.

Concerns have been voiced about the opening hours of the public toilets at Newlands Lane in buckie as well as general public toilet provision.
Concerns have been voiced about the opening hours of the public toilets at Newlands Lane in buckie as well as general public toilet provision.

Mr Ross has been told by concerned constituents that there was just one toilet open within the town which itself operated on restricted hours.

Moray MP Douglas Ross. Picture: Daniel Forsyth.
Moray MP Douglas Ross. Picture: Daniel Forsyth.

He said “I was contacted by constituents from Buckie who were concerned that there were no public toilets open in the town, other than the toilets at Newlands Lane which are only open for a few hours on certain days.

“The SNP Scottish Government has cut funding to our councils by seven per cent in real terms from 2013/14 to 2019/20 and these cuts have had a real negative impact on the core services provided by the Council. Public toilets are just one of many services that have either had to close or are only open for a restricted period.

“Moray Council have introduced the ‘comfort scheme’ whereby shops and businesses sign up to provide free access to their toilet facilities, but it seems many of those who have contacted me about this issue are not comfortable popping into these locations just to use the toilets.

“Ideally we need the government to better fund our councils, which will then allow them to reintroduce town centre public toilet facilities.

“I have written to Moray Council seeking clarification on their long term plan for the opening of public toilets in Buckie and across Moray.”

Buckie councillor and council Tory group leader Councillor Tim Eagle said he had also been approached by many constituents regarding the issue.

Moray council Conservative group leader and Buckie councillor Tim Eagle. Picture: Daniel Forsyth
Moray council Conservative group leader and Buckie councillor Tim Eagle. Picture: Daniel Forsyth

"I have received many calls and emails on this subject and after my group and I intervened in 2020, we were pleased that action had been taken to address them," he continued.

“Back in February of that year, we put forward a motion to keep open public toilets indefinitely, given the importance of them to local people and to visitors during our growing tourist season.

"Sadly the SNP administration rejected our motion deciding instead to close them from the end of that year. We were pleased when they did a U-turn on that decision for the toilets, which remain closed following Covid-19 and instead agreed to keep open all public toilets until the end of 2021.

"Nevertheless, I want to make clear that I still feel toilets are a key priority and will be looking in this year ahead to protect them long term with those that currently have restricted opening hours being allowed to open for much longer and in keeping with the community need.”

However, Buckie SNP councillor Sonya Warren challenged the assertions made by Mr Ross and Councillor Eagle regarding public toilet provision in the town.

Buckie SNP councillor Sonya Warren. Picture: Daniel Forsyth
Buckie SNP councillor Sonya Warren. Picture: Daniel Forsyth

“Buckie has several council managed toilet facilities that are available to the public with Newlands Lane being just one.

"There are toilets at the harbour, Buckie library and at the swimming pool. These are all public facilities.

“We are also fortunate to have supermarkets such as Tesco that have good public access to toilets without having to spend money or make a purchase.

“The national comfort scheme which is promoted by Moray Council is also a good way of letting the general public know about a business offering the use of facilities. There have been well documented reports of these businesses benefitting from spin off spends from allowing free access to their facilities.

“There is also ongoing work by Laurie Piper at Moray Speyside Tourism on expanding public toilet provision.”

Moray Council leader Councillor Graham Leadbitter accused Mr Ross of speaking "incoherent nonsense".

Leader of Moray Council, Councillor Graham Leadbitter. Picture: Daniel Forsyth
Leader of Moray Council, Councillor Graham Leadbitter. Picture: Daniel Forsyth

He said: “In his role as Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross has, in recent weeks, called for NHS funding, council funding, justice funding and more funding for businesses.

"He also believes taxes in Scotland are too high.

“You cannot demand additional money for a multitude of services whilst also wanting tax cuts. It is not hard to see that this is incoherent nonsense. This is the same person who for years backed austerity budgets from Westminster yet is now complaining about less money for services.

“What is also incoherent is claiming that a town has one public toilet facility when there are several in various council facilities that are all open for public use.”


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