British Toilet Association: Archived News from the British Toilet Association 

No more four-mile trips to spend a penny

Visitors to Wootton Courtenay’s playing field will soon be able to spend a penny without leaving the village thanks to a financial windfall. A package of grant aid means work on building toilets at the ground can get underway later this month.

Community leaders were flushed with the success of their 18-month-long campaign to get the new facility after confirmation of a £4,173 grant from the Big Lottery Fund this week. Coupled with an earlier £18,400 grant from the Western Somerset Local Action for Rural Communities (LARC) and some local fundraising, the £24,000 development is now on course to be
completed by October.

The new facilities, which will be accessible to disabled people, will bring welcome relief to the many users of the ground, who include the West Somerset Company of Archers, the organisation leading the community project. Currently, the nearest public toilets are in Dunster or Wheddon Cross – both four miles away. Jim Wiles, secretary of both the archery club and the toilets project, said the new facilities would enable both archers and other users of the playing field to stage longer sessions of their activities. He said the ground sported a croquet club and was well used for a number of other events.

Planning permission for the toilets, which will be brick-built but clad in timber to match the 70-year-old pavilion, has lready been granted. Wootton Courtenay-based Lynch Builders have won the contract to carry out the bulk of the construction work, with C.J Lynch of Minehead responsible for the sewer connections. However, local people will also be getting their hands dirty, tackling much of the decoration and finishing touches. “We are absolutely delighted to have received this Lottery funding, as well as the earlier grant from LARC,” said Mr Wiles. “The project is now solvent and we can really get on with it”.

West Somerset Free Press 10th June 2011