In Ledbury's great Loo Debate, local resident and active community member, Colin Marschall argues that town centre traders should contribute to the upkeep of the conveniences in future... Interesting idea - what do people think?

What I am about to suggest will probably send some people into fits of laughter or even spasms of disbelief, but if those people are prepared to look a little closer at this proposal I feel they will see that it does have merits and is well worth, at least, asking the question.

As we all know the Bye Street toilets will be closed from the end of March 2014, this I believe is at great cost to the town as a whole. In these times of cut backs there could very well be a case of looking where money can be saved, and yet do the basic needs and requirements, such as toilet requirements really change based on how much money is in the purse.

I ask the following question of all people, would you knowingly re-visit a town that has limited public facilities, in the knowledge that you may be “caught short” and your only respite would be to purchase something in a place that provided toilets to its paying customers, or would you simply go somewhere else. On that note I will now outline my idea to re-open the Bye Street toilets and pay for their upkeep.

I feel is should be suggested to all of the 104 or so, town traders that they offer a contribution to a fund in order to keep the Bye Street toilets open. Ledbury Town Council have indicated that the cost of this would be around £26,000 per year, work it out for yourself - £26,000 / 104 = £250 per year, or £4.80 per week, and if those traders could be persuaded to make their contribution £7 per week (just £1 per day) it would raise over £37,000 per year, more than enough to maintain the toilets AND employ someone to monitor them, perhaps even the installation of a coin operated system would raise some of the funding which could be then removed from the traders contribution, or perhaps the Town Council would be willing to invest a figure again in order to reduce the traders contribution.

Now I can see a number of people asking why should some of the traders do this as they very well may have their own toilets for their customers and as such can cater for them. This I believe is a very short-sighted view. Let us be honest here the majority of traders in Ledbury rely on passing trade, they rely on the foot fall that visitors produce, so the question needs to be asked why would traders NOT want to encourage people to visit Ledbury, what is the point in having toilets for your customers if there are no customers. The cafes, pubs and restaurants all benefit from the visitors brought into the town by the other shops, and vice-versa as well. If those shops start to close it starts a cascade effect, less shops, less people willing to come to Ledbury, less people needing hospitality etc.

So come on traders start thinking of the bigger, wider picture of the High street instead of the individual picture of your own business. One is insular that helps no one, including yourself, the other helps maintain the viability of what is, after all, a great place to visit and live.

Isn’t it time traders opted in?

Colin Marschall

Photo Credit: Ledbury Reporter

First some good news for visitors to Ledbury town centre - the public loos in Church Lane are going to remain open.

In a change of heart, Ledbury Town Council has decided that the Bye Street toilets are going to close at the end of March instead. Listening to arguments that the centrally located facilities in Church Lane are vital for shoppers and tourists, the town council voted decisively to keep them open. 

The bad news is that Herefordshire Council is set to introduce parking charges in the town's car parks up to 10.00pm at night.  From the end of the month, evening visitors will therefore be paying the same charges as peak time day time users.

There was uproar at the Town Council meeting on 6 March as Herefordshire Council's proposals were outlined, which I described as a stealth tax on the town centre that will do nothing to benefit Ledbury. 

It remains to be seen how much extra revenue the charges will bring in, particularly with the expectation that savvy motorists will elect to park on the streets, and shun the pay and display machines - not that the charges won't still have a chilling effect on Ledbury's evening economy with pubs, restaurants and entertainment venues all hit hard.  

Residents should note that, alone among the county's market towns, all car-parking revenues from Ledbury disappear out of our town to bolster the coffers of our near-bankrupt local authority. 

In the short term it seems there's little can be done to reverse the decision. However, what Ledbury now needs to be working towards is to take ownership of its car-parks like the other market towns. Then we can operate sensible charging policies, and plough revenues back into town centre facilities and amenities.  To do that however, Ledbury Town Council has to take responsibility for some assets and services that are currently managed by the County, a move that it has so far been reluctant to make.

Over to Ledbury: what's your view?

In recent years, Ledbury Primary School Headteacher Mrs Julie Rees, has been pioneering "Values-based" education  - educating pupils and school staff to build respect, tolerance, diversity and equality into their daily lives.

Now international expert in the field Dr Neil Hawkes is coming to  Ledbury to talk about how those values can be reflected more widely in the life of the town.

Says Julie Rees, "For many years now Ledbury Primary School has embedded Values based education and many of our parents ask how we can take these values into the community.  Dr Hawkes has encouraged us to think creatively about how we can promote our understanding of these Values in our town.

As well as listening to Dr Hawkes, who is an inspiring speaker, we now want to hear your views about how we can raise the profile of Values in our local community."

At the meeting there will be:

• Dr Neil Hawkes International Speaker and consultant speaking about Values in our community
• A free crèche for children so parents can attend
• Light refreshments
• Jon the Potter (Eastnor Pottery) and Stephen McCrae (Blacksmith) - artists involved in the project
• Cath Gardner-Fairy Door Trail

Dr. Neil Hawkes is credited for his pioneering values work as Headteacher of West Kidlington School in Oxfordshire, where he worked with the school community to develop a unique system of values-based education that has become well known throughout the world for its positive and transformational properties. Neil now works as an international education consultant, giving inspirational talks and supporting schools and other organisations to be values-based. His latest book is called, From My Heart: transforming lives through values.

The meeting is open to any community group or any person living in our local community.