Parish council pledges to step in over village toilet closure plans

A parish council in the south west of the borough has pledged to step in to save a local toilet block threatened by closure.

In February, Erewash Borough Council officials said that 10 sites could be closed in a bid to cut costs, with additional plans centred around a reduction in Museum and Town Hall opening hours and an increase to parking charges at Long Eaton Railway Station Car Park.  Its other plans include redundancies or early retirements and the cancellation of select posts which had previously been tabled as vacancies and the leasing of office space in its buildings.

Papers have revealed that the borough council plans to keep just four public toilet blocks open, those being at Ilkeston Marketplace, Victoria Park in the town, plus Orchard Street in Long Eaton and West Park – also in the south of the borough with the rest being sold for initiatives such as repurposing. 

However, the future of one particular toilet block not included in the borough council plans, could now be secure after Ockbrook & Borrowash Parish Council agreed, as part of its February meeting, to take on the running and maintenance of facilities in the supermarket car park in Borrowash Village with some councillors having volunteered to check the toilets on a daily basis.

The exact details of the changeover in management has not been formally declared.