Calls for Chesterfield Borough Council to extend opening hours of town centre public toilets
Chesterfield Borough Council have been urged to extend the opening times for public toilets across the town centre.
Julie, 58, works in Chesterfield town centre - and she has called for Chesterfield Borough Council (CBC) to open public toilets earlier in the morning, so people arriving into Chesterfield have a facility available to them.
She said: “It’s a subject that has been festering with me for a long time, working in the town centre. I’ve raised it with CBC, and their response was that they don’t really need to provide this anyway.
“It’s always about cost, at the end of the day, but it’s a public service and a necessity. I’ve spoken to some of the stallholders at the flea market, which is open very early and is good for the town, and they’ve said they have to go to Wetherspoons for the toilet.”
Currently, the public toilets at the Market Hall are open between 8.30am and 4.30pm, from Monday to Saturday. The facilities at the Pavements Shopping Centre are open from 9.00am until 4.30pm between Monday and Saturday, and from 11.00am until 3.30pm on Sundays.
Julie said that a recent scenario, where she was unable to find a toilet before the public facilities had opened, highlighted the need for public toilets to be open earlier in the town centre.
“I needed the toilet a few weeks ago, and I suffer from IBS, so I went down to McDonald’s. The part where the toilets are, the shutters were still down - the staff said that somebody had gone home with the key and they couldn’t get access to the toilets until they came back.
“There was a disabled loo upstairs, but somebody had been in there for a while - I think that was probably someone homeless. I really didn’t know where to go for a toilet.
“There’s Wetherspoons, but you’ve got to go all the way down to the Portland Hotel, and strictly speaking, these places don’t have to let you use the toilets if you’ve not used their services.
“There’s a need for it. I’ve seen first hand, loads of people going to the toilets in the Pavements and seeing that they’re closed. They’re always waiting for the toilet to open at 9am at the Pavements.
“I don’t buy that there’s not enough footfall - there’s a fair few people around in town from 8am at the latest.”
Julie added that making the opening times of Chesterfield’s public toilets more staggered would help to alleviate the issue - which she said was particularly challenging for those with disabilities.
She said: “Why could they not open the Pavements toilet at 8am and close that a bit earlier, and then have the Market Hall toilet open at a different time. Is that not sensible or doable? I can’t understand.
“For people with disabilities, it’s not easy for them to just go somewhere and find a toilet. It’s very poor for Chesterfield town centre, and it’s gone on for so long.”
Councillor Kate Sarvent, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for town centres and visitor economy, said: “We currently provide public toilet facilities in the town centre from 8.30am until 5.00pm from Monday to Saturday, and from 11am to 3.30pm on Sundays.
“These hours reflect when most retail businesses in the town centre are open and outside of these hours public toilets are vulnerable to misuse and damage. We do provide disabled facilities which can be accessed using a RADAR key.
“There is also a Changing Places toilet at the Market Hall which can be accessed 24 hours to accommodate visitors with a specific need, our markets team can provide a key for this facility.”
A list of toilets in the town centre and their opening hours can be found here.