Toilet closure row driving people round the u-bend

Pressure is growing for a public toilet block to be re-opened as shop owners become fed up with people asking to use their facilities.

The block, next to Brownlow Street car park in Whitchurch, closed more than a decade ago, however despite calls for it to be returned to use, Shropshire Council and Whitchurch Town Council cannot decide who owns it.

Jane Horton, owner of a nearby ironing shop, described how people came into her premises every day and asked where they can find a toilet. Another shop owner Katrina Groom said she let the public use her toilet on a daily basis.

"It's sad, we're encouraging people to come into the town and we want [the block] open - it's a human necessity," Horton said.

She added: "Every single day people are coming along saying 'where's the toilet, can I use your toilet'? We're not a public convenience, we just want what other towns have got."

Horton said she had called for the block to re-open since it closed, but repeatedly nothing had happened.

"I've sent a petition with over a thousand signatures to a local MP, I've emailed an MP, they get back to you and it just comes to a standstill," she said.

"You go to every meeting, you go to the council meetings, I used to go to the Chamber of Trade meetings. Wherever you go you're just hit with the same thing, nobody knows anything and nothing is moving forward," Horton said.

Whitchurch Town Council said Shropshire Council was responsible for the toilets.

The BBC has contacted Shropshire Council for comment.

Katrina Groom said although she did not mind letting people use the toilet in her tanning shop, it did come at a cost and she would welcome the block being re-opened.

"Toilet paper is not free and waste water has gone up so our water bill has gone up a lot", Groom said.

Andy Hall, who sits on both Shropshire Council and Whitchurch Town Council, said it was "really frustrating" that the issue was ongoing.

"[Shropshire Council] hold the lease for those toilets... from Whitchurch Council's point of view and my point of view it would be nice for the town council to take on the toilet and have them open to members of the public that need the service," he said.

Hall added: "I can't understand why Shropshire Council can't sort this out, particularly when they've got a town council willing to take on the services."

The councillor called on people to get "round the table in the same room".

Horton added: "We just don't want to be met with anymore excuses.

"We're fed up of putting our points forward - now we want something to happen."

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