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Author Topic: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets  (Read 44090 times)

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admin

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #74 on: May 14, 2011, 05:51:55 PM »
The package of documentation including petition and letters was sent to Cllr. Stuart Bodsworth on Monday 9 May and was signed for on Wednesday 11 May, so we now know that it has been received. No other form of reply or acknowledgment has been received from Cllr. Bodsworth at present.

The on-line article from the Stockport Express was published in the Stockport Times this week and the on-line version of the petition is going well with very good comments from many people. More of these would be most helpful:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/memorial-park-toilets/

I would like to send the paper version of the petition to the Mayor in the next week or so, and would welcome as many new signature sheets as possible over the next few days to take the total over the 1,000 mark.

Thank you everyone for your support!
Mark Whittaker
The Marple Website

Lisa Oldham

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #73 on: May 09, 2011, 07:42:57 AM »
If you are on FB make sure the privacy settings are set to everyone (think theres a little lock icon to the right of or underneath post?)and ask friends to share the link!

It might be my friends just liking it!! Told the non stockport ones not to sign as I thought it would deminish effect of petiton? So they'll like it to show support I suppose.

Glad its working out Mark... just wish my brain had been in gear when I first knew about it!

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #72 on: May 08, 2011, 08:05:24 PM »
Thank you Tina - odd that 32 facebook users "like this" but only 27 have signed so far. The comment left are very helpful though and I think really do help to strengthen the case.

Hard copy signatures are now at 920. I have just sent the latest installment to Cllr. Stuart Bodsworth by email but as he hasn't acknowledged receipt of anything yet (giving benefit of the doubt he may be on holiday or something) I have also sent the letter below and will be posting everything to him by recorded delivery tomorrow.

www.marple-uk.com/misc/FOMMP-letter-to-cllr-bodswrth.pdf

By the way - the chap collection signatures in the Co-Op was doing so on behalf of Marple Community Council, who have also started a petition  ;D

This on-line petition looks like being a better tool than I realised and I believe it would be very helpful to get more signatures and comments on it, so please tell everyone you know like Tina has.
Mark Whittaker
The Marple Website

tina

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #71 on: May 08, 2011, 03:18:30 PM »
I've signed it Mark, and put a link on my facebook for all my friends to sign it...good luck lets hope it works :)

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #70 on: May 07, 2011, 05:31:49 PM »
Seems pretty easy to use Lisa, let see how it goes:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/memorial-park-toilets/
Mark Whittaker
The Marple Website

Lisa Oldham

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #69 on: May 07, 2011, 03:04:20 PM »
I've used ipetitions in the past ( ipetitions.com ) however it looks different than it used to! You have to create a petition before you look at any existing ones! I suppose this stops people signing willy nilly so is good in some ways!

petitionsonline.co.uk looks ok too but haven't used it

truth is you could create same petition on all.. its the one you choose to tell everyone about thats important!

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #68 on: May 07, 2011, 01:50:02 PM »
whens the closing date for the petition?
I'm not thinking about closing dates - at the moment I'm thinking of continuing it until we get a firm decision on keeping the toilets open.

I understand that there's a chap collecting signatures in the Co-Op right now  8)

In fact ..if we haven't missed the deadline... how about an online petition on one of the petition sites as well?  Ive set them up before and they are "official" and acceptable.
Ok, let's do that too. Can you recommend a site that you've used before that works well please Lisa?

Mark Whittaker
The Marple Website

Lisa Oldham

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #67 on: May 07, 2011, 12:35:51 PM »
In fact ..if we havent missed the deadline... how about an online petition on one of the petition sites as well?  Ive set them up before and they are "official" and acceptable. 

Lisa Oldham

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #66 on: May 07, 2011, 12:32:14 PM »
whens the closing date for the petition?

Stationery Supplies

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #65 on: May 07, 2011, 12:30:25 PM »
160 signatures just emailed to you Mark!

The publicity is working as several people have called into the shop to sign the petition :)

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #64 on: May 07, 2011, 11:10:10 AM »
I've sent a further 260 signatures to Cllr. Bodsworth this morning, taking the total to 740. Same again and we'll have 1,000 so keep 'em coming please folks.

I've also received a copy of a letter written in support by the Marple Afternoon Townswomen Guild and this has been forwarded to Cllr Bodsworth too.

http://www.marple-uk.com/misc/ATWG-toilets-letter.pdf

Letters like this actually have a lot more impact than a a petition alone, so more like this will be welcome too, either from local groups or individuals.

Mark Whittaker
The Marple Website

Miss Marple

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #63 on: May 06, 2011, 07:19:12 PM »
It would be my opinion that pubs and the likes would not see £600.00 as being cost effective if you take into account their increase in water if there's  a water meter. Additional cost of loo rolls, soap and hand towels not to mention cleaning stuff  I think it's a Red Herring and a non starter !

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #62 on: May 06, 2011, 03:22:13 PM »
Cllr Andrew Bispham did suggest (only half jokingly I think) that the FOMMP could buy the toilets for £5 during our meeting on 14 February. We rejected this idea but if you think it’s a reasonable task to expect a “Friends of” volunteer group to carry out then please come along to our next task day as we could do with a few more like you  :D.

The sum being offered to local shops / pubs etc to make their facilities available as Community Toilets is £600 a year. This is probably enough for a business (like a pub) that already provides toilets for its customers to more than cover the extra cost involved. (I wonder what would happen if after a year the shop or pub decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble and withdrew from the scheme, but that’s by the by).

But do you know anyone who would maintain a public toilet in the park for £600 per year? The toilet will need opening and closing every day, cleaning probably daily too, stocking up with loo roll etc. and maintenance. Not to mention things like building insurance, public liability etc. The Friends of the Park do not have sufficient volunteers or resources to take something like that on.

At the moment SK solutions lock and unlock the toilets and presumably do the cleaning and maintenance. Presumably also they have someone who does a “round” of opening, closing and checking toilets throughout the area, so unless you get rid of them all you still need that person from SK to just do the park toilets. I can see that this would be a driver for the council to want to get rid of them all – but the obvious answer to me is to give the task of opening, closing and routine servicing of the toilets in the park to the Parks and Recreation Staff. Then SK solutions would only be needed for maintenance and emergencies.

I think the basic idea of the Community Toilet Scheme is something that could possibly work in an area like Market Street and Derby Way if suitable places for the public to use can be found and they are properly sign-posted etc. The scheme as originally explained to us by Cllr. Candler was that 3 Community Toilets would have to be found nearby before a public toilet could be closed. To me that was fine, and because there are not three suitable toilets available to replace the park toilets, then they would remain open. But since voting for the scheme councillors have told us that the goalposts have been moved and a toilet can be replaced by 3 community toilets anywhere in the borough, which is possibly the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard.

Being practical, at the moment there are two potential "Community Toilets" – the Co-Op is a very long trek especially for a parent with a couple of small children (particularly if only one wants to go and the other wants to stay on the swings) or anyone using the bowling green with even slight mobility problems. The other option is the library – this is upstairs – so you need to use the stairs or the lift – and for the same groups of people, the same basic problems. On top of that, the library is not open on Sundays (one of the busiest days). Also library staff have said that it was very disruptive to users of the library when the park toilets were out of action last year. So all in all pretty unsatisfactory. I guess that the clinic and the council offices are other options but I have no idea how practical their facilities would be for general public use.

Reviewing the link tricky found there are some quotes from Cllr Stuart Bodsworth: "The aim remains to provide a service that’s as good – if not better……” "We are hoping to work with businesses all over the borough to provide a service with better locations…….” Clearly these things cannot be achieved in the case of the Memorial Park Toilets, so why not look for ways to keep them open at reduced cost rather than trying to figure out how to get away with closing them?
Mark Whittaker
The Marple Website

bluebelly

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #61 on: May 06, 2011, 12:50:47 PM »
the council should give the toilets to the FMOP.the money that they are to allocate to a pub/co-op could be used for a local man or woman to maintain.
i know this idea is not very detailed but maybe something could come off it.

Tricky

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Re: Closing of Marple's Public Toilets
« Reply #60 on: May 06, 2011, 09:55:31 AM »
I found this..

http://menmedia.co.uk/stockportexpress/news/s/1387739_stockport_closes_its_last_remaining_public_toilets_to_save_105000_a_year

This article says the council are to close 10 toilets to save £105000 per year.

You could average that out as being £10,500.00 per toilet per year.

..nearly £30 per day.





meh