Stonehaven town centre toilets at Margaret Street to temporarily reopen.
Aberdeenshire Council is to temporarily reprioritise its public toilet provision in Stonehaven in response to local calls from the Stonehaven Business Association (SBA) and Stonehaven and District Community Council (SDCC).
The town’s Margaret Street facility, which have been closed since March, will reopen tomorrow (Wed, Dec 16) following safety tests and cleaning.
To enable cleaning staff to focus on the town centre toilets, the council will be closing the harbour facilities for the duration of this change.
Kincardine and Mearns area manager Bruce Stewart explained: “A number of community groups approached us with a view to reopening the Margaret Street facilities and with the town centre becoming busier during the forthcoming festive period it was considered that would be beneficial.
“Having also taken into consideration our budgetary constraints, the fact that the Boardwalk is currently closed due to improvement works and use of the harbour toilets is likely to be dropping, it was agreed to temporarily close the harbour and reopen Margaret Street.
“With an anticipated increase in footfall in the town centre, we are mindful that residents and visitors will want to pay particular attention to hygiene and hand-washing and our town centre facilities will help accommodate that.”
The SBA and SDCC are hopeful that the facilities will be well used to ensure they remain open into the future as our town centre needs this essential basic public amenity to provide toileting facilities to those who are unable to walk far or to “hold on” such as young children, the elderly and those with with medical conditions that may leave them “caught short”. It will also encourage footfall to the town centre and enable activities such as the Sunday Car Boot sale to start up again in April (Covid-19 restrictions permitting).
