PEEBLES Community Trust (PCT) says that to keep the public toilets open they need the community to spend a penny.

Following successful negotiations with Scottish Borders Council, the group adopted the management of the School Brae facilities, which re-opened to the public earlier this year.

Thanks to a Scottish Government grant, alterations were carried out to improve access, which included the provision of coin pay entry to the disabled access and a contactless card entry system on the second cubicle.

However, the community is now in danger of losing the facilities due to people not willing to ‘pay 30p for a pee’.

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Alex Wilson from the PCT says they have encountered a number of problems since opening the facilities.

She said: “We received funding that allowed us to employ two cleaners that clean the toilets three times a day over seven days. However, we have learned about the difficulties that come with running community toilets.

“You hear people saying I’m not paying 30p, or even holding the door open for the next person. We’ve also endured people shoving their shoulder against the door and breaking the locks. They cost us £100 each time to replace, so you’re on a losing wicket.”

The money collected allows the PCT to keep the toilets open, and with local authorities having no statutory responsibility to provide public toilets, it is feared there will be no facilities for townsfolk and visitors if the School Brae ones close.

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Going forward, the PCT has now decided to keep the toilets open to all and operate on a donation system.

Alex added: “We’re going to be able to keep the toilets open in School Brae until the end of October. We thought we’d go on a donation system because people who don’t have cash in their pocket may come back the following day and donate. We’ve even put up some amusing signs, like ‘don’t worry, pee happy!’.

“The facilities are immaculate and are cleaned and maintained to a high standard. One woman said to me she could have eaten her dinner off the floor they were so clean.”

The PCT had hoped to adopt other public toilets in the town following this pilot project, but now, Alex says this won’t be possible if the community doesn’t support the School Brae toilets.

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The cost to run these facilities on an annual basis is just over £18,000.

“The toilets are now open for people to use as required, and the system in place for collecting money is the same. We’re not in the main thrust of summer now, so we don’t know how much money the facilities will generate,” said Alex.

“When something like this comes to community-level, it sparks a bigger conversation, and that’s what we need nationally.

“However, people in the town need to realise that it’s not someone else’s problem. We can’t do this by ourselves, and we need the co-operation of the community to keep these much-needed facilities open.”

If you would like to help, donations can be made by contactless card or cash at the toilets or email: admin@peeblescommunity.org