“Good manners cost nothing” – Wrexham Council apologises for failing to notify public of toilet closure at town centre park

Wrexham Council has apologised for failing to notify members of the public about the closure of toilets at a popular town centre park.

It comes after an Executive Board councillor posted an angry comment on Twitter as facilities at Bellevue Park were shut for the final time at the end of last week.

Cllr Phil Wynn, who represents the area the park is in and who himself was part of the Executive Board that signed off on the budget cuts resulting in the closure, took to the social media platform to criticise the authority for providing ‘zero advance notice’ of the move.

Due to budget cuts @wrexhamcbc have this week closed the public toilet block in Bellevue Park. Apologies to all park users for providing zero advance notice provided by WCBC. Good manners cost nothing. pic.twitter.com/Z5qKc21ahG

— Phillip Wynn (@PhillipWynn2) September 27, 2019

As above executive board member signed off his scathing message by adding: “Good manners cost nothing.”

Council officials have now apologised for not informing park users, but said the toilets had to be closed to save money.
Cllr David A Bithell, lead member for environment and transport, said: “As part of the budget savings in 2018/19 we looked at a number of options to keep the public toilets in Bellevue Park open.

“However, we are sorry to announce that this has not been possible, and the toilet has now been permanently closed, for decommissioning at a later stage.”

Darren Williams, chief officer for environment and technical, said: “While we have had to take this decision in order to ensure continued financial viability for our services, we apologise that park users were not provided advance notice of the closure.”

The park was created in the Edwardian era to commemorate the jubilee year of the incorporation of the town and is home to a bowling green, tennis courts and a bandstand.

In 2012 it was named as the most visited free tourist attraction in North Wales after drawing 384,000 visitors over a 12 month period.

Speaking after posting the tweet, Cllr Wynn said he understood the decision to close the toilet facilities.

However, he explained he was left frustrated by the lack of information given by the council.

He said: “The cost was disproportionate for the benefit the toilets gave and it was one of those unfortunate tough decisions we’ve got to do to balance the books.

“I was just miffed that the communication for park users hadn’t been relayed through to them that we were closing it and I found out through a third party.”

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme) / Wrexham.com