Frustration grows over continuing closure of Golspie's public toilets
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Highland Council has said the months-long delay in reopening Golspie's public toilets following a serious vandal attack is because it is waiting for a new steel door to be supplied.
The local authority owned facility in the centre of the village has been shut since the steel door to the gent’s toilets was staved in last November, with a crowbar thought to have been used.
A spokesman said a £3100 new door was ordered on February 20 and the delay was with the supplier. No date has yet been fixed for its installation.
However Golspie community council chairman Ian Sutherland has expressed frustration at the hold-up and said suggestions that a local joiner be used to speed up the process had been rejected.
He spoke out as the tourism season fast approaches with demand for the facility from visitors set to rise.
The toilets, housed in a unique circular building in Fountain Road car park have been the target of a number of vandal attacks in recent years and have temporarily closed several times.
A decrease in the number of police officers in the area and the consequent “loss of local knowledge” is claimed to be a factor in the culprits not being identified. Installing CCTV has been ruled out because of data protection issues.
The vandal attack in November was one of the worst yet with the door left so badly twisted and damaged that it could no longer be unlocked or opened. Since then only the disabled toilet has been accessible to those with a radar key.
Mr Sutherland said a constant stream of people were observed daily trying to access the toilets and when unable to do so, attempting to use the facilities in nearby businesses including the Coffee Bothy and even Golspie Medical Practice.
“Highland Council does not have a statutory responsibility to maintain the toilets. It is a bit of a get-out clause in my opinion,” he said."They certainly have a humanitarian and moral responsibility to let people have somewhere to go to the toilet.”
“The community council paid for temporary chemical toilets at Rhives during the first Covid lockdown when the Fountain Road facility was shut. We are not prepared to do that again.
“We have repeatedly suggested to Highland Council that local joiners could have had a new door fitted months ago.
“We would like to employ a village officer to be in charge of the toilets and to do a whole host of other related tasks. There is only one village officer between all the East Sutherland communities and there is only so much one chap can do.
A former police officer, Mr Sutherland added: “At the end of the day the community can only do so much. The police are the ones that have the remit to catch them (the vandals), but they are thinner than ever on the ground. Local knowledge has been lost.”
East Sutherland and Edderton councillor Richard Gale said officers were working as hard as possible to reopen the toilets and, with no budget, had requested funding from the ward discretionary fund.
He continued: “I am 100 per cent sure that people who live in the community know who is carrying out these acts of wilful damage. They need to give information to the police.There is a real danger the toilets could be closed for good.”
A Highland Council spokesman said a steel door was required because of the levels of vandalism experienced at the site.
“We don’t have a confirmed date for reopening yet,” said the spokesman. “We were advised on April 24 that the worst case scenario was four weeks. As soon as the door is installed we will get the site fully reopened.”
