News / Politics
Labour ask for Bristol’s public toilets to be reopened
Bristol’s Labour group is proposing budget amendments which will enable new public toilets to open and be maintained across the city.
New toilets will be able to be paid for by reducing the number of paid extra roles for councillors at City Hall, the Labour group claim.
In Marvin Rees’ third year as elected mayor in 2018, the council cut all funding from 18 of the city’s on-street loos, later launching a new community-based scheme that was mired in controversy.
is needed now More than ever
The reopening of public toilets is among Labour’s 11 amendments to the proposed council budget, with other ideas including new night bus routes, installing new flytipping cameras and keeping Bristol Archives open for longer.
Labour have calculated that buying more children’s homes at the council-owned Goram Homes’ developments would save the council more than £1m a year on external placements.
Increasing the fine for littering would see extra money reinvested into cleaning up Bristol’s streets.
ACORN and other organisations calling for public toilets to be reopened by the Labour administration in 2022 – photo: Arvind Howarth
Bristol’s Labour group leader, Tom Renhard, said: “The age of austerity is over. The Greens now need to face up to the challenges of leading a city…
“Throughout their first year in charge, they’ve been asleep at the wheel.
“So, whilst we’re taking out some of their worst ideas, we’re also putting forward some fresh ideas for the council administration, who are clearly lacking inspiration.
“The biggest overspend in the council are the costs of children’s out of area social care placements.
“The council doesn’t currently have the capacity to provide them so we rely on expensive private companies to do it – billing the taxpayer an average of £7,000 a week per child.
“By providing homes to only seven more children, we can save you over £1m a year.
“We’d invest that money in your priorities; stopping the Greens’ cut to the frequency of black bin collections, providing respite breaks to carers of disabled children, and funding new public toilets.”
The toilets on Colston Avenue under the Colston Tower (now Beacon Tower) were among those that were closed in 2018 – photo: Bristol24/7
Renhard added: “Everyone knows that Bristol’s public transport isn’t up to scratch.
“Labour worked hard to provide three new bus routes recently. We want to build on that work and fund new night bus routes, boosting the night time economy and providing safe travel home for workers.
“Likewise, fly-tipping across Bristol has spiralled out of control through Green Party mismanagement.
“We plan to install new cameras in hotspots, increase the fine for littering, and reinvest the proceeds into cleaning our streets.
“The Green budget includes a £1m a year cut to the waste services budget. Our amendments reduce that by half, negating the apparent need for four-weekly black bin collections.
“I sincerely hope other parties will support our common-sense amendments.
“We always said Labour will act as a constructive opposition. Our amendments reflect exactly that.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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