Toilets in Midsomer Norton ? Reportedly up to sixteen thousands have signed a petition to get more conveniences into the town but councillors have hit a wall on how to take any plans forward.

Cllr Deborah Thatcher brought up the issue of toilets saying that thousands in the town want better provision of conveniences.

" Absolutely the consensus is that the public want toilets. They have been banging on for years for them and rightly so. If we can try and figure out a site, find out how much it would cost and then go back to the public, say if you really want public toilets it is going to cost this much. Your precept is going to go up by this much - do you still want it now?"

But any spend of capital on additional toilets in Midsomer Norton seemed to be ruled out, with councillors instead considering adopting a project like that in Frome where they have a You're Welcome group with a small stipend for businesses who offer up their toilets to the public.*

Cllr Gordon Mackay: " Better signage might be better, to let people know they can use the (facilities) in the leisure centre and the library."

Cllr Shaun Hughes welcomed carrying out a feasibility study into toilet provision in Midsomer Norton to establish who is exactly responsible for the conveniences, B&NES or the Town Council. " Rather than just us making arbitrary decisions without the information."

The interim clerk pointed that the council could not even look at providing more toilets without thinking of costs and if a new toilet block was built that would need capital. Warning: " This council's capital ability to spend is quite low at the moment and will be for some time. I am quite sure that the costs of a building a toilet block from the ground up are going to be prohibitive."

Cllr Tim Wells said : " We have to consult, we have had a group of people conducting a report to petition us about toilets but we clearly do not have the means of going down the route of building anything."

Cllr Martyn Plant said the council needed to consider any additional provision of toilets as part of a council-wide strategy. " This is what it would cost, do a feasibility study... its a big expenditure, bigger than anything else we are considering."

Cllr Deborah Thatcher argued : " Why can't we do an estimated cost and then consult? Shouldn't our priority be what the public wants ? Surely we are here to represent what the public wants? It is this not what historically people ( in Midsomer Norton) have been crying out for ?"

Councillors then started to be unhappy about how to proceed on the issue, with Cllr Shaun Hughes asking : "If you were a member of the public and you wanted to know about toilets how would you feel if you were told nothing here was being resolved?" .

You can see the meeting HERE

*Frome Nub News has never come across this scheme. There are Frome Town Council owned toilets in Victoria Park which are currently closed and public toilets in the car park of the Cheese & Grain which are owned and operated by Somerset.