Council services are all under pressure. Finances are tight and anyway to raise additional money is good. So charging for the use of the public conveniences will help ease the financial issues of the Council responsible for them. Right?

Use of Conveniences after Charging

There is no doubt that once a charge is imposed, there is a reduction in the use of the toilets. Fenland budgeted income similar to the level of previous use of the toilets when they started charging for the use of the toilets, but in reality, use fell to just 40% of what was budgeted (see budget report)  . The upgrade to charged-for facilities will only take 154 years to recoup in Fenland.

This may be because people are not willing to pay or simply do not have the correct change to use the facilities – but whichever way, the use diminishes dramatically. Of course, people may be finding alternative facilities or simply finding alternative places to relive themselves …

Additional Charging Costs

Charging requires equipment – meaning additional capital cost. The Tory controlled Council have been reticent to release figures, but it takes little imagination to see that:

• Charging machines will need emptying – employment of people trained in cash handling and protected when handling cash.
• Insurance will be needed for those collecting the money and for the equipment itself.
• Then there are breakdowns and damage – what do you do when someone puts their only 20p into the machine and it jams? Or worse, if they get jammed in the mechanical gate or stuck inside the toilets. Emergency call out charges.
• Of course, there will be the significant additional capital expenditure to installing the charging gates in the first place.

These are all costs additional to current costs and additional to any refurbishment costs.

What we can be certain of is that there will be little in the way of additional income, but significant additional costs. Charging may well actually cost the Council rather than raise funds.

Of course, clever presentation of figures will probably try to manipulate this fact, but there simply must be additional costs if there is going to be charges.

The Toilets Need to be Upgraded

I don’t think anyone disagrees with this and we, as the Council Tax payers, have to pay for the public conveniences to be upgraded. The Fenland experience tells us that we cannot upgrade the toilets by charging. Even worse, the additional cost of charging is unlikely to meet the additional costs of charging!

But there is a source of funds: from the new developments being built in Ely.

As to charging? Sign the petition so that we are not burdened with additional costs at a time when the council should be saving money