Toilet closures cause a stink at Cambridge City Council budget debate
Three public toilets will close, the cost of swimming in Cambridge will go up and some jobs will go at the city council it was confirmed this week, despite opposition to the plans.
Cambridge City Council confirmed a 2.99 per cent council tax increase on Monday, which will mean the average Band D household will pay £232.13, up £6.74, to the authority for its share of the council tax bill.
But that will not be enough to prevent the public toilets at Quayside, Gonville Place and Victoria Avenue being closed to save £121,000 a year.
The council said these toilets were underused and costly to maintain.
But the Labour administration faced backlash from opposition councillors and even some of its own group over the plans at a full council meeting on Monday (24 February).
Cllr Simon Smith (Lab, Castle), executive councillor for finance and resources, said savings had to be made and the budget proposed did this with “minimal” impacts to frontline services. The council has identified £4.9million of recurring savings in the first year of a £6million two-year savings target.
He said: “The Labour council is protecting frontline services that we must deliver, collecting bins, maintaining parks and open spaces, and preventing homelessness.
“We are also protecting discretionary and safety net services that do so much to help those in greatest need and enhance community wellbeing.”
But Cllr Tim Bick, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, claimed the leadership had known for years about its funding gap but had “kicked the matter into the long grass”.
He pointed out that in a public consultation many people had said they did not want to see more public toilets closed, following other closures in 2023.
He said: “You asked residents whether they agree to close more public toilets – they said no. They might have saved their breath – you are just going to do it.”
Cllr Bick (Lib Dem, Market), warned closing public toilets “disadvantages certain sections of the community”.
The Liberal Democrat group asked for the planned closures to be suspended for six months for the issue to be looked at again.
Cllr Delowar Hossain (Con, King’s Hedges) agreed the council should not be closing “essential services” like public toilets, adding it should listen to the people who elected them.
There was also concern on the Labour benches.
Cllr Mark Ashton (Lab, Cherry Hinton) said the closure of more public toilets was his “line in the sand”.
He said: “In my own personal case, as many of you may know, I have bowel cancer and for 12 months I had to have a colostomy bag.
“I can assure you that having to wear a colostomy bag puts you in an extreme case of panic when you have to go out, because you are never sure exactly when you need to find a toilet. I was so relieved I had a radar key and for all the toilets nearby I could use.
“I believe the council should be proud of itself for the toilets it has.”
Cllr Ashton said there was money in the reserves and called for a suspension to the decision so a review could find out “exactly why they are not being used”.
Cllr Russ McPherson (Lab, Cherry Hinton) agreed with him.
But Cllr Martin Smart (Lab,King’s Hedges), executive councillor for open spaces and city services, said seven of the authority’s 14 public toilets were considered for closure, and that the three chosen were “all low use facilities and costly to maintain”.
He said Quayside was a “special case” and could be taken over by punting operators.
Cllr Smart said there would be “ongoing investment” in remaining public toilets in Cambridge, and highlighted that there are other publicly accessible toilets in the city centre that are not run by the council, including in shopping centres.
Cllr Smith argued: “When you talk about public responses being ignored, at the same time you have got to recognise we had to make the savings. We can’t be all things to all people with a limited budget.
“I think there has been a loss of perspective as well in all this discussion, because it has all boiled down to three lavatories for goodness sake, three lavatories out of a £68million budget, what is wrong with you.
“When we are considering all of the things that we keep going in this council it is remarkable that we have this breadth and richnand richness of our public services, but we still have to balance the budget. There is no magic money.”
Swimming charges will also rise, with a £2 per head general subsidy ditched.
Adults who do not live in Cambridge will see the cost of a swim rise from £6.20 to £7.50. For adult residents, the price will increase from £5.25 to £6.
Cllr Cheney Payne (Lib Dem, Castle) said this was “short-sighted” as subsidising swimming prices helped encourage people to maintain active lifestyles, which was “critical to public health”.
Cllr Cameron Holloway (Lab, Newnham), executive councillor for community safety, homelessness and wellbeing, said the decision was “not one we take lightly” and they were aware they helped people stay fit and healthy.
Cllr Holloway said the city had a “fantastic set of swimming pools” and that the authority needed to “keep it that way”, so needed to “make sustainable financial decisions to ensure people can continue to enjoy swimming for many years to come”.
He added that the council would continue to subsidise swimming for “those who need it most”.
Cllr Bick said the Lib Dems were also “alarmed” about planned cuts to jobs at the city council, particularly in the open spaces team that keep the city’s streets and open spaces clean.
Its work is “critical to how the whole community and visitors experience the city”, he said, arguing Labour were “risking the most core services”.
Cllr Mike Davey (Lab, Petersfield), the council leader, acknowledged it was a “difficult budget” to put together, but said they had to find savings after “15 years of austerity on the back of Conservative, and Conservative and Liberal Democrat, administrations”.
A majority of councillors approved the budget.
