TO ITEM
ON THE AGENDA
STIRLING COUNCIL / ASSETS, PROPERTY AND FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
24 June 2010 / NOT EXEMPT
PUBLIC CONVENIENCES – SERVICE REVIEW
1summary
1.1The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the public convenience service as currently provided by the Council and to make recommendations to change service provision to match the needs of local communities, improving overall service provision and reducing costs.
1.2The report notes that the method of service, particularly in the rural areas requires significant change and that failure to change will mean that a poor standard of service is all that can be achieved within the resources available now and likely to be available in the future recognising the need to reduce costs as available budget reduces. The report also forms part of a wider review of the utilisation of assets by the Council, which is being undertaken as one of the major budget workstreams.
1.3The report recommends that a number of the Council owned public conveniences should be closed and replaced by Comfort Partnership Schemes where there is sufficient demand and where opportunities exist. A reduction in the number of public conveniences owned and operated will then allow the budgets available for cleaning and maintenance to be used more effectively.
2RECOMMENDATION(S)
2.1It is recommended that Council agree:-
2.1.1That the public convenience at Station Road, Stirling is closed at the end of the current tourist season (October 2010) due to lack of demand/already existing suitable alternative;
2.1.2That the Assets, Property and Facilities Management Service seek to introduce Comfort Partnership Schemes to replace the public conveniences listed in Appendix A, thus allowing for their closure from the end of October 2010 onwards;
2.1.3That the Assets, Property and Facilities Management Service engage with communities where Council owned public conveniences will still operate with a view to encouraging local keyholding where a desire for extended opening hours exists;
2.1.4To instruct Assets, Property and Facilities Management Services to consult with local communities on proposed changes to service provision as noted in 2.1.1 to 2.1.3 above;
2.1.5To agree to a four week closure of public conveniences (non heated), during the mid December to mid January period, to alleviate the possibility of bursts; and
2.1.6A further report will be brought back to Council in early 2011 updating on progress made against the recommendations noted in 2.1.1 to 2.1.3 above.
3CONSIDERATIONS
Background
3.1Following the restructure in autumn last year the responsibility for public conveniences transferred from Environment Services (Streetscape) to Assets, Property and Facilities Management (APFM). This report provides details of the current provision of toilets and makes several recommendations for changing the nature of service delivery to ensure that the delivery of public convenience services can be as sustainable as possible into the future.
3.2The provision of public conveniences is a discretionary service and not a statutory requirement for Local Authorities to provide. Appendix B shows information from other authorities on the number of facilities they have and where available information on the strategies that they are adopting in relation to public conveniences.
Current Provision & Information
3.3The Council own and maintain 30 public conveniences sited at various locations throughout the area. Appendix C provides details of the locations of each of the public conveniences and also highlights where the Council have other publicly accessible buildings in similar locations that provide toilet facilities - although at present these facilities are not advertised as available for general public usage. Of the 30, two public conveniences are within cemeteries namely Bannockburn Cemetery and St Thomas Cemetery.
3.4At Plean Country Park the public are provided with portacabin toilets sited adjacent to the public car park. There are also staff public conveniences situated within the building/yard area.
3.5The Council also have an agreement with the National Wallace Monument for toilet provision. This agreement has been in place since 1996.
3.6Appendix D provides basic information on each public convenience including the property address, the floor area, the current status of the toilet ie whether it is operational or currently closed, the visitor numbers, the opening hours, whether it is seasonal or permanent, how it is staffed/cleaned, its condition and its Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliance rating along with information on its outstanding condition and DDA costs.
3.7The Council has no set standard template of toilets and as can be seen from Appendix D the size of the facilities vary greatly and is not necessarily dependent on usage or geographical location. The majority of toilets are purpose built as a toilet and have a range of facilities (male/female and disabled).
3.8All of the toilets are operational with exceptions:-
The Bridge of Allan public toilet is structurally unsafe and will be demolished during the summer and a replacement facility built. Portakabin facilities are current available on the existing site. The new toilet will be completed at the end of summer 2010.
The toilet at Laighills Park has been closed for some time due to significant condition issues.
The toilet at Thistle Park in Stirling is also currently closed, has been declared surplus and was marketed by Strategic Asset Management with a closing date set of mid March 2010. A suitable offer for the property has been received and missives have been concluded for a May sale.
3.9Opening times vary dependent on location, target market and availability of resources to open, close and service each facility. Full details of opening and closing times are contained in Appendix D. The only staffed toilet is at Station Road, Stirling. Opening and cleaning of toilets is carried out by a mix of full time and part time attendants, some fixed and others mobile. Appendix D highlights those facilities which are attended facilities, those that are opened and cleaned by mobile cleaners and those which are cleaned by Village Officers. All toilets are open throughout the year, except Inversnaid which is opened on a seasonal basis.
Condition, Suitability and DDA Compliance
3.10Appendix D also provides information on condition, the costs to bring the facilities up to a basic minimum standard and information on compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). As can be seen from the table significant resources are required to bring the properties to a basic minimum level and this is undeliverable within the current revenue budget.
3.11In terms of assessing condition, each of the facilities have been surveyed and given a rating as per the standard reporting methodology whereby “A” rating is good and “D” ratings being sub-standard. Overall the public convenience portfolio rates as a B (acceptable) using the new elemental method or a borderline C (poor) using the former cost method.
3.12In 2009/10, Environment Services carried out works to the Station Road, Callander facility at a cost of £20,000. While the works have substantially improved the condition and aesthetic appeal of the toilets the condition survey suggests a further £3,850 needs to be spent to achieve an “A” rating and it is proposed that this will be addressed from within the 2010/11 Capital programme allocation. If the Council aspires to substantially upgrading all facilities to the standard adopted at Callander, it is envisaged that a total of £207,157 would be required to bring the facilities up to a satisfactory condition (i.e the maintenance backlog from condition surveys) and a further estimated £180,000 would be required to bring the facilities up to a good condition (ie a total of £387,157).
3.13Each building has also been assessed in terms of accessibility and compliance in terms of the DDA. The Council as a public service provider has a duty of care to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. Given the nature of the service provided, it is considered that the Council should wherever possible provide facilities that are fully accessible. Appendix D highlights that five premises are unsuitable, that 18 require adaptations costing in the region of £41,000 and five require surveying to further ascertain DDA requirements. These adaptations are not achievable within existing revenue budgets.
Budget
3.14In 2009/10, the annual budget for the toilets was £316K. In 2009/10 expenditure was on budget. A summary of the budget is enclosed in Appendix E. Of the £116,810 budget allocated for property costs, £62,300 is required to meet rates, water and energy costs leaving less than £55,000 available to meet other property costs. These include planned maintenance, reactive maintenance and repair, vandalism, grounds maintenance, insurance, toilet rolls and cleaning materials. The revenue budget for property issues is therefore not able to address the outstanding backlog of maintenance repairs that were indicated in paras 3.10 to 3.13 above.
3.15The budget is further broken down in Appendix F to show a cost per toilet and an estimated cost for use. This indicates that in some cases toilets cost the Council over £1 per use and that in one case this figure if in excess of £5 per use.
3.16In terms of capital expenditure, £150K per annum has been allocated for 2009/10 and for 2010/11. For 2009/10, £20K has been spent on the upgrading of Callander Station Rd car park and the remaining £130K has been allocated to the replacement of the Bridge of Allan toilet, which is currently going through the tender process after extensive community consultation. Apart from further improvements at Station Road, Callander, the 2010/11 allocation has not been provisionally allocated as yet until AP&FM are clear on the future for the portfolio and the outcome of this report.
Facilities Management Issues
3.17The opening, closing and cleaning of toilets is managed using a small core of four full-time staff supplemented by a number of part-time staff, with Village Officers also dedicating a proportion of their hours to the service. The details of these arrangements are summarised in Appendix E. A full-time member of staff is employed to operate the toilet at Station Road, Stirling and one other to operate the four toilets in Callander (2), Aberfoyle and Thornhill. The two other mobile operatives open, close and clean at least nine toilets at various locations in and around Stirling, Doune and Dunblane as well as providing some holiday and weekend cover for other toilets.
3.18The current arrangements can mean that the cleaning operatives can spend as much time, if not more, travelling between the various locations rather than cleaning. In addition, with nine toilets to open and close within working hours, some public conveniences can close as early as 3.15 p.m. and not open until 10.35 a.m. Both management and the staff themselves are concerned that the current arrangements do not provide adequate time to engage in proper cleaning duties at each facility. It is generally recognised that a poor cleaning regime in properties can lead to longer term maintenance problems and this may well be reflected in the condition surveys reported in Appendix D.
Other Public Convenience Arrangements and Current Upgrades
3.19The Council has previously had two agreements with partner agencies whereby the Council paid significant sums to the partner agencies to provide toilets. The agreement with Visit Scotland has been terminated and the Council now directly provides the toilets at the Discovery Centre in Aberfoyle but the agreement with Stirling District Tourism (SDT) for the Wallace Monument continues. AP&FM will be opening a dialogue with SDT about this during 2010/11 with the intention of reviewing the agreement, which currently costs the Council £11K per annum. The current arrangement will be reviewed to bring it in line with proposals under the Comfort Partnership Scheme and addressed financially and operationally within the wider review of SDT currently being carried out.
3.20A number of community groups have expressed an interest in taking over the running, assisting with key holding, etc for public conveniences in their local area. This is particularly the case where communities are interested in having facilities open for longer hours. It is intended that meaningful discussions can commence in 2010/11 with these groups to ensure the continuing sustainability and ongoing service improvement for the future. This is dealt with further below.
3.21As is noted in para 3.17, the toilet at Bridge of Allan is currently being reprovided following discussions with the Community Council (CC) and local business association. The size of the replacement toilet has being significantly reduced to align to the historic user figures for the facility and improvements are being made to ensure that the facilities are DDA compliant. During the appraisal process/discussions, other sites and types of provision, including Automatic Public Convenience were considered, but ruled out on cost issues. The cost of operating an APC is between £17-20K per annum. As part of the ongoing dialogue, the CC/business association are considering ways in which they could work in partnership with the Council to increase the opening hours for the new facility, which will be open at the end of the summer.
Requirements to Carry Out Review
3.22Environment Services commenced a review of public conveniences in 2008 following concerns on the continuing sustainability of the portfolio and have shared this information with APFM as part of the handover of responsibilities. It is apparent from this previous work and APFM’s current work that there are significant issues as follows:-
Disparity in terms of coverage/accessibility to PC facilities – some areas have multiple facilities.
Historic locations and opening times do not always match the areas of demand/customer requirements.
Seasonal demand and closures could be linked more closely to usage.
Duplication of PC locations with other Council facilities - access to PC facilities could be made available within existing properties with adjustments to existing service delivery.
PC are not fully DDA compliant, require significant revenue expenditure to address maintenance backlog and even greater sums to enhance the facilities to make them facilities fit/attractive for 21st century aspirations.
3.23In view of the above, APFM believe that a radical review of facilities is required that effectively reconsiders how the service is delivered. Local Authorities are no longer seen as the sole provider of public conveniences (see Appendix B) as other publicly available facilities have emerged. It is therefore recommended that the Council considers a role whereby it acts as enabler, co-ordinator or provider of facilities, depending upon the best-fit solution in each community.
3.24Many local authorities in Scotland (see Appendix B) and the UK have embarked on Comfort Partnership Schemes (CPS) for the deliver of PC facilities – some for the complete replacement of PCs, others to augment existing facilities and some are a mixture. CPS involves a formal agreement between the Council and private sector partners (who are already providing toilets for the use of their patrons) in an area and the agreement enables these conveniences to be publicly available. For this “open” usage the partner is recompensed by the Council, using a sliding financial scale, dependant on a number of factors such as usage, facilities available, number of CPS in area, etc. The partners also benefit in that these CPS sites are publicised by a CPS sign on the property, advance signage, publicity on Council/tourist websites and ultimately the expectation that they get extra patronage of their facility. Perth & Kinross Council have used other Council premises, a garage, tearooms, hotels, public houses, etc for their CPS. As a pilot, discussions are already ongoing with the National Park Authority in relation to their suggestion to stop duplication of facilities at Balmaha where they would like to integrate the public toilet into their Visitor Centre thereby increasing the service offered.
3.25Under a Comfort Partnership Scheme, a Comfort Partner would receive a payment from the Council based on a number of key factors. These would include:-
Anticipated footfall
Position within settlement/easy to find
Facilities offered, and in particular DDA compliance, opening hours, number of cubicles, baby changing facilities, provision of sanitary and waste bins.
Payments would be made on a sliding scale depending on the standard of facilities and would range from £600 to £2,000 per annum.
3.26Internal discussions have commenced with Services regarding rolling out the Comfort Partnership Scheme for existing Council buildings. As can be seen from Appendix C there are a variety of locations where the Council operates buildings in close proximity to existing public convenience services. In some areas these facilities are potentially a duplication of existing facilities. Internal discussions have commenced with service management (local offices, community centres and libraries) to ascertain whether it is possible to make reasonable adjustments to the operation of these buildings to allow them to be signed as Comfort Partnership Scheme locations. There may be a requirement to additionally clean and increase the supplies of consumables to these areas to assist with any increase in use. This will be monitored directly with the user services in the respective buildings. It is therefore now recommended that the Council agrees that the Service will seek alternative provision solutions for the public conveniences listed in Appendix A, whereby a Comfort Partnership solution is arranged either through a private sector partner (eg local hotel, pub, café) or utilisation of another Council facility. Where a CPS can be introduced Council public conveniences would be closed. A copy of a proposed draft CPS Agreement is enclosed at AppendixG.
3.27A number of communities have also indicated that they would be interested in partnership working with the Council in terms of public toilets. This has potentially ranged from taking over the responsibility for toilets to assisting with opening and closing of facilities. In instances where Comfort Partnership Schemes cannot be successfully introduced, it is recommended that the Council undertake consultation with each Community Council to ascertain the appetite for such partnership working, with the aim of reducing costs across the Council area.
3.28APFM’s initial review of toilet facilities has revealed that there is significant duplication in facilities within the Stirling city centre. For example there are public toilets available within the railway station, the bus station and within the Thistle Marches as well as within a number of more major shop units. As can be seen from Appendix D, the opening and closing times of this facility is not even as extensive as those at the bus station and the Thistle Marches. It is therefore recommended that the Station Road toilet be closed at the end of the summer season (end of September). It is envisaged that the facility could be sold and would generate a small receipt to the Capital programme.