£400,000 upgrade for public loo in St Andrews

At the North East Fife area committee, councillors were asked to approve £100,000 of funding towards the upgrade of the Bruce Embankment Public Toilets.

They were told that the total cost for the project was in the range

£280,750 to £398,250.

St Andrews Town Group raised the issue of the state of the public toilets in  town, stating  they were important for visitors, and a key issue that needed to be addressed.

The harbour toilets currently have no electricity and the walls are suffering from damp.

The upgrade  will include a new roof,  changes in the existing layout and the replacement of a disabled toilet with a changing places facility, replacement of an existing office to accommodate a change machine, vending machines and a tourism kiosk, a full refurbishment of all sanitary ware and internal fixtures and fittings, rewiring and new heating system.

Cladding options are to be considered to make the building more sympathetic to the surrounding environment. This will impact on costs depending on the type of cladding used.

However, some councillors voiced concern at the cost.

Cllr. Bill Porteous, Liberal Democrats for East Neuk and Landward, said: “Surely we can spend less than £400,000 on one toilet?

“I assume that if we allocate this funding, other public toilets will be upgraded on the back of it?

“I hope there is money left for the East Neuk public toilets, which are all also in need of repair.”

But Cllr Jane Ann Liston, Liberal Democrat for St Andrews, said: “This has been long overdue. St Andrews is a prime tourist destination.

“But I would suggest that going forward with new build toilets, we make these more of a standard.

“It is easier to design these things in then bolt them on after they’ve been built.”

Councillors agreed to the funding with the assurance that this would bring forward works on other public toilets.