The improved public toilets at the Memorial Park in Keynsham have now re-opened, two weeks early due to efforts by the contractor and the Council.
The new public toilets will have many benefits for local people, including:
- One will be disability compliant and both will have baby-change facilities – before there was just one baby-change area, needing a key to get in.
- The cubicles offer a high standard of cleanliness and safety and are able to handle large numbers of people using them;
- They are large enough for a parent with a couple of small children and a pushchair to use together;
- High-tech controls means access can be 24 hours / 7 days a week all year and timers can be adjusted remotely to suit local need – eg they can stay open later on summer evenings if required;
- Access is by coin entry to a totally private cubicle with its own hand-washing and drying facilities;
- Cubicles will be unisex, allowing all parents and carers to supervise their children more closely whilst using the toilets in the park;
- The inside is resistant to vandalism and misuse with an easy-clean tiled interior and hard-wearing fittings;
- Problems are detected remotely enabling rapid response by Healthmatic’s engineering and maintenance teams.
All of the refurbished facilities will be charged at 20p for use, in order to make the contract sustainable over the next 15 years.
Bath & North East Somerset Council agreed, at its meeting on 11th September, to pause the public toilets improvements programme and to undertake a review of cubicle capacity, consulting with residents and users at each location.
Cllr David Dixon, Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “Work at Keynsham Memorial Park has been finished and ahead of schedule, as the Council did not want to inconvenience park users by leaving it incomplete.
“Now there are new and hygienic facilities available for local people to use safely.”
