'Use visitor tax levy to pay for toilets' says refunded community councillor
A community councillor who lost £1 to a faulty payment system at Inveraray public toilets has received a refund from Argyll and Bute Council.
Peter Bates is calling on the council to use funds from a visitor levy it is backing to provide free public toilets for all.
Mr Bates is a member of Tarbert and Skipness Community Council.
Passing through Inveraray recently he was outraged to see a charge of 50p had been introduced at the toilets, which he said were “in need of upgrading”.
Insult was added to injury when upon inserting a 50p coin, he was not granted access. And after placing his bank card to the pad, another 50p was taken, and still no entry to the toilets.
On principle, Peter emailed the council demanding his money back. He received his 50p cash refund via the post on Monday and is checking his bank statement to see if the other 50p has been returned.
The council has introduced charges of 50p to its “high-use” public conveniences. This is to offset some of the costs of providing almost 60 facilities across the region.
But there have been issues with the new system since it went live at the start of February.
Contractors have been ordered to repair it. Meanwhile, the system has been deactivated until this can be done.
Peter said it is disgraceful to charge for access to public toilets, especially at a time when the council tax has just been hiked by 10 per cent.
He referenced the Scottish Government’s proposed Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill, which was backed by Argyll and Bute Council last year.
The proposed tax would be levied on all visitors staying in hotels and B&Bs. Income from the tax must be spent on improving visitor facilities.
Peter said: “This money could be used to provide free toilets for all so that Argyll and Bute residents do not have to pay.
“The visitor tax will cause more folk to use motorhomes to avoid it, causing more problems for wild camping parking. Which is already a problem in places like Tarbert.”
It has been a number of years since there has been a charge at public toilets. The council said it had no option but to introduce charges to some conveniences due to financial pressures.
Speaking about the visitor tax income, a council spokeswoman said: “This will be subject to a public consultation in due course on how the levy monies would be used.
“It should be noted the council is already working on improving motor home places to stay working with communities and the private sector. For example, a new campsite/motorhome site on Gigha, improvements at Tarbet working with the National Park, and a new site at Port Ellen on Islay.
"The private sector is also improving their motor home facilities at Portavadie for example, Mull and West Loch Tarbert. We have also created several new Aires where motor homes can stay on land for a small fee without the need for a caravan licence.
“Public toilets are not a statutory service but the council is looking to still retain them and we are investing in them where we can. For example, we are investing £100k in Dunoon Public toilet again linked to parking spaces for motor homes.”
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