Former Metro chief rejects call for toilets at town bus station

Chris Greaves, an Independent councillor from Bradford, says it is more important to keep services running, prices down and station users will just have to time their visits with a greater degree of care.

But Brighouse councillor Colin Stout has set up a petition to collect as many signatures as possible and present it at Calderdale Council’s full council meeting on Wednesday to show the strength of feeling in the town.

Calderdale closed a toilet block near the bus station in Ganny Road in 2001 when facilities were improved in Thornton Square some 220 yards away.

But the town’s new bus station, which reopened after refurbishment in 2009 has no toilet facilities.

The cheapest option for upgrading the disused toilet block, which is now in a poor condition, would be around £132,000 says the council.

And rather than spend money on improving the block, the council’s recommendation is to demolish it at a cost of £10,000.

Coun Stout says he will be asking commuters who use the bus station and shoppers which of the three options which range between £132,000 and nearly £300,000 is most beneficial for the area.

He said: “I want to know if people feel Calderdale Council should be providing a public toilet in the bus station.

“Then I am going to demand we have a toilet facility. We have got one in Halifax so we should have one in Brighouse, the second largest town in Calderdale.

“In relation to the cost, I am still waiting and hopeful that a couple of construction people will come forward with an estimated cost of re-establishing the toilets there.

“The toilet block as it is now is connected to the sewage system of West Yorkshire, has electric cables and has a water supply, so why should it cost £132,000 to £278,000 to redesign that building?

“People are prepared to pay between 20p and 30p for the facility providing it is clean.

“The council did offer to pay certain pubs £1,000 a year to allow the public to use their toilets.

“So if they are prepared to do that over the years then why wouldn’t they spend the money to do their own up which would save them money in the long run.”

Coun Greaves said: “I remember Brighouse bus station opening and it is unfortunate that there are no toilet facilities there.

“But Metro is under huge financial pressure at the moment and needs to save money wherever possible.

“Quite honestly there’s no point having an all-singing, all-dancing bus station if there are no buses in it.

“Toilets would not be my first priority and people who have been to the restaurant or the pub will have to remember to use those facilities first before arriving at the bus station.

“The problem with toilets is the high maintenance cost plus problems associated with vandalism and cleanliness. There can be difficulties too with people taking drugs in them as well as homosexual men indulging in ‘cottaging’.”

Coun Scott Lloyd Benton, (Con Brighouse), said: “There is a need for toilets at the bus station and I will be out with Coun Stout tomorrow collecting signatures for his petition.

“I think the problem was that stations of a certain size such as Cleckheaton and Batley did not qualify for them and when it came to Brighouse a precedent was set.

“To build a brand new bus station without toilet facilities is quite silly really.”

Petitions will be placed in various shops throughout the town centre and Coun Stout will be at the bus station on Saturday eager to collect signatures. Coun Stout, (Ind Brighouse), will present the petition to councillors on Wednesday at 6pm at Halifax Town Hall.

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