Public Conveniences
Lower High Street

The Malvern Gazette, 3rd March 2006, Letters page

Democracy has taken a battering THE ruling group on Malvern Hills District Council needed to use a whip on its councillors this week to bludgeon through the ill-conceived and widely opposed proposal to shut many of the district's toilets. Evidence to support this was shaky and slim. Even by its own estimate, £120,000 would have been enough for the council to bring the toilets up to the desired standards. Democracy has taken a severe battering by the slavish, sheep-like voting of these councillors. Independent Roger Sutton obviously didn't want to propose his own committee's decision to shut the toilets - including disabled toilets - and said as much. This should not have been a party-political decision. The Lib-Dem/Green/Independent cabal should have allowed a free vote. There was no party politics in the town councils I am aware of. Upton, Malvern and Tenbury Wells opposed closure to represent their communities. A tied vote at 17-17 for the main proposal and for other amendments was tipped in favour of closure by the casting vote of council chairman Val Myatt, even though custom and practice would have allowed her to exercise discretion not to vote and the proposal would then not have been carried. There has been a paucity of factual information to support the council's arguments. A question of whether the council is the legal owner of the toilets has yet to be confirmed. There has been no impact assessment carried out on the damage the decision will cause to the towns. The legality of the decision may yet be tested and the likelihood that a complaint will be made to the Local Government Ombudsman citing maladministration is real. Chris Mair, New Street, Upton-upon-Severn.