With my Turriff and District Community Council hat on, I have written to Aberdeenshire Council’s Head of Property and Facilities Management about the closure of the toilets at The Haughs. I noted in the letter that I was going to put it in the public domain because of the amount of local interest, so…
Allan Whyte
Head of Property and Facilities Management Business Services
Aberdeenshire Council
By E-mail
Dear Mr Whyte
Turriff and District Community Council would like to object to the closure of the public toilets at The Haughs in the strongest possible terms.
We note from the minutes of the Infrastructure Services Committee meeting in January the following statement
During discussion the Committee welcomed the report and noted that the strategy would be of great public interest and as such there would have to be meaningful engagement within communities and community councils.
No consultation or discussion, meaningful or otherwise, has taken place with either Turriff and District Community Council nor the wider Turriff community. Turriff and District Community Council chairperson Rose Logan had e-mailed the ward 7 councillors and the Formartine Area Manager on 29 March to ask if the toilets were to be closed permanently because of local rumours. No response to this E-mail was received.
The permanent closure was only confirmed when we asked Cllr Norrie and Ms Elaine Brown, Formartine Area Manager, at our monthly community council meeting on 4 April. If we had not asked the question I’m sure that the information of the permanent closure would not have been forthcoming.
As you are no doubt aware, Aberdeenshire Council is facilitating community meetings looking at the on-going redevelopment of The Haughs, to make it more attractive for visitors. During the Aberdeenshire Council led meeting in September a list of priorities was drawn up, point 5 of the short term actions is:
To have the toilets open all year round, particularly in the winter, even if for a reduced period.
You can see the full document produced by Aberdeenshire Council here
https://www.scribd.com/doc/307298417/Haughs-Identified-Priorities
Therefore Turriff and District Community Council formally request that the public toilets at The Haughs are reopened with immediate affect and remain open in line with previous daily opening hours of 8am – 8pm until such a time as a meaningful consultation with the residents of Turriff is completed.
We expect the toilets to be re open for public use from 8am on Saturday 9 April.
As there is a great deal of interest in the closure of this facility locally, I will be publishing this letter to the public domain so that the community of Turriff can be assured that this matter is not going to be brushed under the carpet.
Yours truly,
Mike Rawlins
Vice Chair Turriff and District Community Council
CC
TDCC Members
Ward 7 Councillors
Formartine Area Manager
Aberdeenshire Council Chief Executive
