£18 to spend a penny...that’s what under-used ‘superloo’ is costing Hyndburn Council (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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£18 to spend a penny...that’s what under-used ‘superloo’ is costing Hyndburn Council
2:34pm Thursday 2nd August 2012 in Hyndburn
By Emma Cruces
, Reporter
FEW CUSTOMERS The ‘superloo’
A ‘SUPERLOO’ toilet which has cost a council £18 every time it has been used in the past year is to be removed.
But Hyndburn Council will have to pay £100,000 to break the contract with the providers of the self cleaning unisex cubicle in Accrington Town Centre.
The toilet has been used 1,520 times in the past year, which at 20p a go generated £304 income for Hyndburn Council.
However as it costs the council £28,245 in annual rental costs, each visit to spend a penny has actually costs the authority £18.38.
To add to the costs, the council is locked into a contract with the makers of the Universal SuperLoo, JC Decaux.
Giving 12 months notice and paying a termination fee, and paying to have the toilet removed, will cost the borough approximately £100,000.
However if they remain in the contract, which runs until 2023, the toilet will cost them approximately £301,530 in rental costs.
Councillors voted at yesterday’s meeting to terminate the contract and have the loo removed.
Leader of the opposition, Peter Britcliffe said: “There’s been some awful bad management of this issue. The contract shouldn’t be so expensive to get out of and now tax payers have to pick up the tab - not to spend a penny.” A report before councillors said that with making savings a priority for the council, Peel Street toilets, and Accrington Market Hall toilets gave adequate provision for shoppers in the borough The superloo was also said to attract “an undesirable element” with the cubicle being used for needle use or as a screen to publically urinate behind the unit.
It has also been out of order on numerous occasions in recent months.
That was because the water supply was inadvertently switched off for weeks at a time.
The council did not receive a single complaint from members of the public, when it was out of use.
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