LORELY LISTENS…

Written by Lorely Burt MP and published in Solihull Times on Wed 5th Jul 2006

Spending a penny just became more difficult in Solihull. Like many residents I woke to the news that Solihull will be closing toilets throughout the Borough to save less than 1% of its budget with dismay.

Surely it is a basic civic duty to provide decent clean toilets for residents and visitors to our town centres, shops and parks. In particular, concern must be for the young, the elderly and those with medical conditions who cannot dive in to pubs or struggle through busy shops when they need to spend a penny.

We understand that the unfair government funding formula leaves us as a Borough in a financial predicament. However, the targets chosen for savings are controversial: we had the music service fees hike just before the May elections: now it's toilets.

When we defended the music service, we were wrongly accused of failing to prioritise the sick and elderly. Yet, now the Council is proposing a cut which will disproportionately affect the sick and the elderly.

There is no question that whoever is running the council (at the moment in Solihull the Conservatives) have to make tough choices. However, this week we have observed that Solihull has spent £6.6 million on temporary and agency staff. No doubt some of these staff are needed, but the relatively meagre £210,000 saved by toilet closures pale into insignificance alongside this figure.

In my view it is unthinkable to close so many toilets in Solihull. The Conservative ruling group should save a few pennies elsewhere and let us keep our loos.

For this reason, I am launching a petition to oppose the Councils decision. You can register your support by signing our online petition at www.lorelyburt.org.uk; emailing me at lorely@lorelyburt.org.uk; or writing to me at Lorely Burt Member of Parliament, FREEPOST, RLXY-BJYS-EKRX, Solihull, B92 7HS