By Chris Cornford
Town and parish councils across the Island, and across the country, are celebrating the success of a campaign to remove business rates on public toilets, saving local councils tens of thousands of pounds every year.
The move has been welcomed by former Shanklin Mayor, Jon Gilbey, who campaigned over a number of years to get the charges scrapped, by writing to a succession of Prime Ministers pointing out that it would help keep the vital public facilities open. The success of the campaign will save councils significant sums, including Shanklin, who will save around £11,000 every year. The law was finally changed on April 29, meaning public lavatories will no longer be charged any rates at all, with the measure backdated to April 2020.
Jon, the local representative for Danfo UK, the world’s leading supplier of public toilets, said: “Most town and parish councils already pay for the running of public toilets, and are increasingly investing in their improvement. The removal of these charges is welcome, although long overdue. The fact that it is backdated to 2020 will help many councils at this difficult time.”
A number of local councils on the Island, including Shanklin, Newport, Sandown and Yarmouth, have invested in new, more efficient and accessible toilets for their residents and visitors, with many already achieving national loo of the year awards.
Press Release