By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Civic chiefs in a quintessential Cotswold town “are embarrassed to be caught with their trousers down” over the “deplorable” state of their public toilets.
Stow-on-the-Wold, which is famous for its honey-coloured stone buildings, quaint shops and bustlinging square, is getting a bad reputation with visitors who need to spend a penny in the town.
The state of public toilets in Stow is the subject of many complaints made to the town council.
And town councillor Ben Eddolls recently raised the issue of the Cotswold District Council-owned public conveniences in Market Square.
He told the full council meeting on September 24 that the town is a tourist “hotspot however, we are dismayed with the public toilets that we’ve got”.
“Their often filthy state are making many visitors quite irate,” he said.
“Letters and emails are coming to our clerk that when they finally found a space to park the toilets are deplorable.
“The worst they’ve ever seen. 40p to use them is quite obscene.
“What can be done to help our little town? We’re embarrassed to be caught with our trousers down
“Please CDC, can we together make a plan to have a better place for our toilet pan, ones that are clean and working all the time without that smell and the filth and grime?”
He said he understood the council are aware of the issue and there will be a meeting this week.
“If you came to our toilets, you would be disgusted, I’m sorry.”
Councillors applauded Cllr Eddolls’ speech and health, culture and visitor experience cabinet member Paul Hodgkinson (LD, Chedworth and Churn Valley) praied his “incredible ditty”.
But he said it was a serious issue which he is taking very seriously.
“When you spend, well it used to be a penny, but when you spend 40p you should at least have cleanliness and you should have clean toilets,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
He said the issue has been raised with the council’s contractor .
“They do three cleans a day at the moment,” said Cllr Hodgkinson.
“I guess the point is that with the summer we’ve had, you’ve had so many tourists, not only in Stow, in Bourton-on-the-Water and Bibury, it has been rammed this summer because of the fantastic weather we’ve had.”
He said the council needs to understand what they can do better and would like to see standards improving.