THE provision of public toilets is not, as some people tend to believe, a statutory service. More's the pity where Mansfield is concerned - the town might be a lot better catered for if it were.
But this is not the whole story by any means.
The bottom line (if you'll pardon the expression) is that some people just don't know how to behave where toilets are concerned and are giving these places a bad name.
- Thursday is D-Day for town centre toilets
The unenviable problems faced by the council could not be more graphically illustrated than in the example of the facilities in St John Street.
They have been a magnet for drug users, paedophiles and male prostitutes, making them dirty and unsafe, despite the attention of council wardens. In short, unfit for purpose.
But this should not mean that decent, law-abiding members of the public should penalised. Closure and non-replacement should not be an option.
Tomorrow, Coun Kate Allsop, portfolio holder for regeneration, has to come up with a better solution. She faces an unenviable task.
Whilst some people would no doubt be happy to pay for that, there are bound to many more who wouldn't.
It's our view that there is no choice in the matter.
A town the size of Mansfield deserves decent public toilets. Not just for its residents, but also for the visitors and tourists it seeks to attract. As things stand there's a long way to go, quite literally.
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