Kingsclere Parish Council unsure whether to purchase public toilets from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

Kingsclere Parish Council has decided it is open to the idea of taking on the responsibility of running the village’s public toilets.

But a public consultation would be necessary before it reached a final decision.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has offered the council ownership of the facility for £1 and this offer was discussed at a meeting at the Kingsclere Village Club on Monday (October 31).

The parish council was unsure whether the community benefits would outweigh the financial burden of the purchase, as taking it on could see an increase of at least 10 to 15 per cent in the parish council precept.

Councillors agreed that there was a desire for such a facility to keep running in the village, with councillor John Sawyer stating that “any civilised community should have a public convenience”.

However, Mr Sawyer also said: “I am very concerned that we should add high running costs to our precept and saddle the costs to the relatively small population of Kingsclere.”

Mr Sawyer was also concerned that Kingsclere Parish Council wouldn’t be a big enough authority to tend to any urgent matters that arose from the toilets.

The idea of charging residents to use the toilets was raised, with the possibility of installing contactless payment meters at the facility’s entrance being a potential earner for the council.

Councillor David Conquest did acknowledge that the revenue raised by this would help with running costs, but admitted that it could “irritate” the community.

Fellow councillor Nicola Peach said that imposing a charge on using the facility “depended on the level of service” that the facility offered.

Chairman Clive Mussett echoed this point and said: “We have to make this work from a service point of view.”

Councillor Ian Bowes believed that the facility would garner “serious interest” from local businesses as well as local residents, suggesting the toilets could be put up for sponsorship to help cover costs.

The council agreed that a thorough public consultation with both residents and businesses would need to be carried out before any final decision was made.

The idea of putting off taking on the responsibility of the toilets until the financial year of 2023/24 was also considered.