Proposals to reopen public conveniences in Fleetwood granted £7,000 by town council

Fleetwood Town Council has approved a grant for the project after hearing that there was a significant need for the seafront amenities, located on the site of Fleetwood's yacht lake off Laidleys Walk.

Fed-up residents say the nearest alternative facilities are not close enough for people using the popular boating lake, the model yacht lake and nearby Dolly's refreshment kiosk.

The project to restore and reopen the toilets block is being put together by the Friends Of Fleetwood Yacht Lake Public Conveniences Group and will offer free amenities to men, women and disabled people, plus baby-changing facilities.

At the council's latest meeting via social media platform Zoom, Friends chairman William Hargreaves put the case for an application for £7,000 and explained that volunteers from the group would run the facility.

He told councillors: "We believe this is so important for the community, we're going to need this and it will be a huge plus for the town.

"It is in the perfect spot on the seafront where residents and visitors come, where the nearest facilities are not close enough, especially if you're an older person or a family."

The Friends group has a constitution, a committee and a bank account and has costed the total project at £17,820.

Additional money - aside from the Town Council grant - will come from the project's combined funds (£3,500), with a further £7,320 required, which the group was actively seeking to find.

Although Wyre Council, which owns the facilities, has no plans to re-open the toilets itself it has agreed to lease the building at a peppercorn rent of just £1 a year.

Town councillors raised a number of issues, asking why the Friends appeared to have chosen a more expensive design and questioning if it would leave children vulnerable because there was only one door into the building and the doorway was positioned away from the roadside.

Coun Lorraine Beavers added: "As a town council it is not our role to cover the running costs of public conveniences and we would not be allowed to."

But Mr Hargreaves, who said the toilets would be open from 8am to 6pm, said: "We can offer to run it, clean it and get it sorted."

He added that in terms of safety, there would always be volunteers and families nearby and precautions would be taken to ensure safety.

Of the design choice, he said they had taken the option of separate men's and ladies' amenities, instead of having Danfo-style unisex toilets and a disabled one, because the existing design of separate toilets was already in place and it best suited its needs.

Coun Brian Crawford, who is involved with the project, stated he had an interest in it and was not involved in determining the application.

Councillors voted to approve the scheme, agreeing there was a need for such amenities given that Wyre Council had no plans to reopen them.