British Toilet Association: Archived News from the British Toilet Association 

Honesty box to be introduced at Skipton public toilets

Visitors to Skipton’s Coach Street public toilets are being asked to pay up first.

The town council, which took over responsibility for the conveniences last year, is asking people to contribute a voluntary charge of 10p.

It plans honesty boxes and signs explaining the need for the charge.

Dave Parker, chief officer of Skipton Town Council, said over the past year the town council had been receiving a contribution towards the maintenance cost from Craven District Council.

But, from the beginning of April, the full cost will have to be met by Skipton council tax payers.
“The toilets are a vital part of the service offered to people visiting the town and essential if we are to encourage people to continue to visit,” said Mr Parker. “That said, the council thinks it is reasonable to ask visitors to make a contribution towards the running costs.”
The scheme will run on a trial basis for a year.

“I’ve spoken with councils in other parts of the country where the revenue from an honesty based system, such as this, is quite substantial,” said Mr Parker.

“We are working on the basis that people are, by and large, honest and we hope this will prove to be the case among the many users of the Coach Street facility.”

The proceeds from the charges will be used to offset some of the cost of cleaning and maintaining the toilets and towards making improvements to the décor.

Compulsory charging already takes place at the town hall car park toilets and at Skipton bus station.

Craven Herald and Pioneer  30th March 2010