A PUBLIC consultation to see what people think about the building of new toilets in Wellington town centre has been branded “meaningless.”

Wellington Town Council is asking residents if they agree with the project and if they support plans for the council to get £238,000 funding from the Public Works Loan Board which provides low-cost finance for local authorities.

But so far the council has received less than 40 responses from people.

Cllr Andrew Govier, speaking at the council’s policy and finance committee meeting on February 10, said: “The consultation so far has resulted in a low response and not very reflective, but even if we went door-to-door I’m not sure we’d get much more.”

Cllr Justin Cole said: “The public has been let down over this toilet saga.”

He added there was no “actual evidence” to suggest that a new public toilet block was needed in Wellington and said “we need hard data” for a business case to be submitted to the PWLB.

Councillors said the plans had not – unsurprisingly - caught the imagination of local people. “It hasn’t lit the town up,” said Cllr Mark Lithgow.

Cllr Steve Mercer added: “This consultation is totally meaningless. The low response says to me that people are saying to us that we should just get on and do the job.”

The Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, said talk of demolishing the Longforth Road toilets and replacing them with new facilities was being discussed long before the car crash of December 2022.

Councillors recommended to full council that it goes ahead with a bid to the PWLB for a £238,000 loan to be paid back over 15-and-a-half years.

Town clerk Dave Farrow said it would be on the council’s agenda for the March meeting, while he would look again at the business case.