Buckley: New lease of life for former swimming pool planned

Buckley Old Baths opened in 1928

A proposed revamp of a former swimming pool left unused for years could help provide much-needed public toilets for a north Wales town.

Buckley Old Baths in Flintshire closed in 2005 but a local group is seeking funding to convert the 1928 building to a multi-use community space.

A county council meeting heard part of the plan would see publicly available toilets included in the redesign.

Buckley's town council-run toilets have suffered arson and vandalism.

In a meeting discussing a wider toilet provision strategy across the county, Buckley Pentrobin councillor Mike Peers said the refurbished baths plan included provision for open-access toilets, but the project was dependant on securing funding, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We've had a business viability report done. We've had architectural concepts completed," he told the environment and economy scrutiny committee.

"We made absolutely clear from the outset that this would include toilets within the facility for public use. It's also disability compliant.

"The project is almost ready to go but unfortunately converting an old baths into a multi-use hall does require funding, so we are currently looking at local authority, town councils for collaboration."

There have been plans in the past to renovate the hall but they failed to materialise.

The meeting also heard about the wider issue with toilet provision, which is not a statutory duty for councils.

• Flintshire could be flush with public toilets

• Reviving Buckley baths' building

However they are required by the Welsh government to have a strategy for improving access to facilities, including within the private sector.

Mold East councillor Chris Bithell said he had noticed a lack of advertising of other public toilets available at local businesses, but also felt that it should be a council duty to provide facilities.

"Elderly people, parents with small children, disabled people, shoppers, all these people need toilet facilities and we all accept that," he said.

"But no-one is currently responsible for making that provision. We simply can't afford to do this as we did in the past as we don't have the funds with which to do it."