FIRST they suggested turning "Splash Palace" into a visitor centre. Now they want to privatise the toilet cleaning service. It's nothing short of a loo revolution.
These two stories, emerging within days of one another, should be seized on as a serendipitous chance for the council to review and improve York's public toilet provision.
A proposal to change the Parliament Street facilities known as Splash Palace into "The Hub", with interactive tourist computer networks in place of plumbing, was unveiled a week ago.
The idea has two main advantages. It would provide a more central, more accessible visitors' centre than the one in the De Grey Rooms it would replace.
And it would mark the end of the most prominent, and most unloved, loos in York, offering a chance to build lighter, brighter and better ones nearby.
It is one of the most mundane but important duties of a council to ensure that there are not only enough public toilets, but that they are in the right place and well maintained.
On that last point, the Evening Press has carried out occasional surveys which have always found cleanliness and hygiene wanting.
With the council's own department turning its nose up at the contract to clean York's public toilets, a private firm is set to be offered the work. If the council insists on stringent hygiene standards as part of the deal, users might find this is a change for the better.
Updated: 10:14 Thursday, October 20, 2005
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