Cambridge City Council’s cabinet approved ‘the immediate reopening of as many individual toilets at Parkers Piece as feasible’
Cambridge City Council has agreed to reopen some public toilets “as soon as possible” as part of a deal made with opposition parties. Labour lost their majority in the local elections and – after initially facing deadlock when trying to form a cabinet – struck a deal with the Lib Dems and Greens.
This included re-opening the public toilets at Parkers Piece, improving street cleaning and cracking down on antisocial behaviour. Cllr Martin Smart, cabinet member for nature, open spaces and city services said they’d closed the toilets “in good faith” and “there were, and continue to be, pressures” on finances “that need careful management”.
The Labour council told the cabinet meeting: “Employing extra cleaning staff on a different shift can be challenging to do and in the most effective way but we’ll do our best in that regard. We aim to get on with this work as soon as possible and will pursue that goal.”
He added that the Quayside public toilets would also reopen, though this was decided beforehand.
Cllr Tim Bick, leader of the Lib Dem group, said it had been a “long time” since resources for street cleaning and public toilets were increased and “it’s a delight to see there may be a consensus that now more is needed – and it can happen.”
He said the council “ought to have a common interest” in making sure services are “at a desirable level for the long term” ahead of a new unitary authority being created under local government reorganisation.
He said: “If we don’t bring into the unitary something that we can be really proud of, then I think we’re going to be struggling with these services from the start.”
Part of the public toilet proposals is to install bank card readers, rather than using coins, as “essential to the long-term viability of pay-to-enter public toilets”.
Cllr Naomi Bennett, leader of the Green group, said: “We know that many people don’t carry cash anymore – however, we’d like to understand why it’s thought that a bank card reader would be an improvement.
“Under 18s visiting the city centre on their own are unlikely to have bank cards with them and overseas visitors may have bank cards which are not compatible with UK payment software or may experience disproportionate transaction charges.”
Cllr Smart said that coin-operated systems are “increasingly difficult to operate” with falling cash usage and “are labour intensive to maintain and have historically been vulnerable to vandalism, theft and mechanical failure”.
He said: “However, members are right to highlight that not everyone has access to a bank card or compatible payment method. Accessibility considerations would form an important part of any future proposal on charging and would need to be addressed before any decision was brought back to members.”
Cllr Kathryn Fisher said: “I think it’s clear that Mill Road has been overlooked for a number of years with very little investment.”
The Green councillor said she had “countless emails” from residents “explaining that they’re seeing public defecation in the cemetery” while the nearby public toilets remain shut.
Cllr Smart said this was “concerning” but that there are ongoing issues in Mill Road Cemetery that are “wider than just the provision of public toilets”.
He said reopening the public toilets off Mill Road wasn’t before them but “wider questions about individual sites such as Gwydir Street will continue to be considered”.
The cabinet approved “the immediate reopening of as many individual toilets at Parkers Piece as feasible following condition and compliance checks”, the hiring of four temporary street cleaning staff and two temporary enforcement officers.
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