WELLINGTON Town Council will take take over the maintenance of public toilets with “immediate effect”.
The upkeep was previously the responsibility of Somerset Council but the North Street Car Park and Wellington Park toilet blocks will now be serviced by the town council after recent complaints about their “disgusting state”.
The town council said in a recent statement: “The poor quality of cleaning and servicing of the toilet blocks in North Street Car Park and Wellington Park have been brought to the attention of Wellington Town Council over the past week and we have subsequently made the decision to take over this function from Somerset Council and ID Verde with immediate effect.
“The ownership of these facilities is due to be handed over to Wellington Town Council from Somerset Council in April 2025 but following discussions with Somerset Council, it was considered that it was more beneficial for the public if the town takes control of the cleaning now.
“In the short term, our community warden will be doing this work especially over this weekend to ensure that the block is taken care of and usable during the Wellington Independent Market whilst we look for a longer-term solution.
“As of now all cubicles in the North Street Car Park are open for use.”
The cleaning service employed by Somerset Council, ID Verde, had not turned up to clean the North Street toilet block for a number of days, said the town’s mayor Councillor Janet Lloyd last week
The mayor said: “I received a telephone call at 9am on Tuesday morning (September 17) regarding the disgusting state of the toilets in the North Street car park and contacted the officers at Wellington Town Council who went and investigated immediately.”
Wellington Town Council said in a statement: “It has transpired that the toilets in North Street have not been cleaned as ID Verde had assumed that because Taunton Town Council had taken on the cleaning of their toilets at the beginning of September, we were doing the same.”
ID Verde has been approached for comment.