Toilet scheme is such a relief

Pictured (left to right): Jan and Geoff Hibbert (landlady and landlord), Ian Meynell (Street Scene), parish councillor Royce Franklin, Councillor Alma McInnes (Parish chairman), Councillor Jim McArdle and Councillor Barbara Beeley.

Shoppers in Saddleworth no longer need worry about having to spend a penny thanks to a new community toilet scheme.

The Mayor of Oldham paid a visit to the Diggle Hotel to launch the pilot scheme, which sees a business in each village open its toilet facilities to the public, without users having to make a purchase.

Starting today, seven businesses will display the sticker, showing that they are part of the scheme aiming to provide clean, safe and accessible public toilets in convenient locations.

Businesses participating in the six-month pilot are Saddleworth Craft Co-operative, Delph, the Ram’s Head, Denshaw, the Swan, Dobcross, the Diggle Hotel, Diggle, the Royal George, Greenfield, the Three Crowns, Scouthead, and the Little Shop, Uppermill.
Parish councillor Barbara Beeley, who was there to launch the scheme, said: “I hope that the scheme can fill the current gap and that other businesses will join.”

The businesses will get a small annual fee from the parish council for providing the services.

Several similar schemes have been set up around the country since the first in Richmond upon Thames in the early 1990s.