A proposal to put out the maintenance of public conveniences in York to the private sector was nodded through at the last Council meeting without any opportunity for debate.
Auto toilet
It was yet another victim of the mismanagement of the Council agenda by the current administration.
A report on the issue, made to the Council Cabinet on 3rd December, was incredibly short on detail.
It emerges that the new loos will use a coin entry system on the door. There will be no free urinals*. The cost of a visit will be 40p with no change given. Apparently Euros and other foreign coins will not be accepted (not too bright a policy for a City which attracts a large number of tourists each year).
The contractors will be responsible for cash collection and security arrangements. In additional they will be paid £62,000 a year by the Council.
New York trial
The Council says that, “All needles and other debris on the self cleaning units are washed into a sump and removed as required”.
The Council says that existing staff will be transferred to the new contractors under TUPE regulations. Quite how that stacks up with the self cleaning strategy remains to be seen.
While auto toilets are commonplace in other parts of the world, in the UK they have generally been regarded with some suspicion following some examples of people being locked in them for extended periods of time.
Continental solution
The biggest problem would be deciding where such modern structures could be fitted into the historic streetscape of an historic city.
“Modernising” the existing toilets will cost taxpayers over £600,000.
*Under s87 Public Health Act 1936, the Council has the power to provide public conveniences and may charge such fees for the use of such conveniences, other than urinals, as it thinks fit.