‘Cameras’ plan for Pendle public loos (From Lancashire Telegraph)

‘Cameras’ plan for Pendle public loos

3:19pm Monday 22nd February 2010 in

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DUMMY cameras could be deployed in public toilets in Pendle to prevent them being used as sex dens, councillors have been told.

Members of the public have reported that at least three conveniences, in the Colne area – at Ball Grove picnic area, Cottontree in Trawden and Laneshawbridge – are known ‘cottaging’ sites, places where people meet for casual sex.

Maintenance staff have also voiced fears that Ball Grove and the public toilets in the centre of Brierfield are frequented by drug takers.

Michael Hant, of Atkinson Cleaners, the firm contracted to sanitise Pendle’s public conveniences, said he had one solution to the problem.

He told a scrutiny panel: “We also have a contract with Burnley Council and they had put false cameras in the toilets, where cottaging was a problem, which successfully acted as a deterrent.”

Mr Hant has also recommended that certain toilets in the borough should be closed earlier to safeguard against teenage vandals.

Park toilets were among the most regular targets for damage, a scrutiny panel chaired by Coun Tony Beckett heard.

The toilets in Colne Road, Brierfield, just yards away from the town’s police office, are being monitored after complaints regarding vandalism and drug-taking.

Councillors in Pendle have been conducting a survey of public toilets and asked for views from area committees and park users groups.

Campaigners representing Victoria Park have called for the facilities there to be reopened and a similar request was made by Colne Committee.

The prospect of starting a community toilet scheme in Colne, using The Crown Hotel, Wallace Hartley and Union Exchange pubs is being pursued by Colne Connected.

More than 100 responses have been sent in, with a number complaining about cleanliness and a lack of hand-washing facilities.

The findings of the public conveniences panel will eventually be considered by the council’s executive.