News Council shocked by toilet crisis
Council bigwigs say there's nothing wrong with boys and girls sharing the same toilets at a local youth club.
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council carried out an inspection of the toilet provision at Snaith Youth Club but decided that it wasn't a health-and-safety issue.
Their response has astounded town councillors, who wrote to East Riding officers expressing their concerns about boys and girls sharing the ladies' toilets.
This was followed by an inspection of the premises by health-and-safety officers.
An East Riding Council spokesman said this week that there could still be changes to the toilet provision, but that the council did not view it as a health-and-safety issue.
He added: "A review of the premises has been undertaken and the council's youth service is awaiting the outcome of findings. The toilet issue has been highlighted for some time.
"There may be developments arising from the review of premises. However, the view is that this is not a health-and-safety issue as the situation is managed by providing a key to the female toilets for all users."
Town mayor Cllr Frank Townshend said he was amazed by the East Riding's response.
He also said that boys and girls sharing the same toilets could be illegal.
"I don't accept what the (East Riding) council has said and I don't actually think it's legal to have children of that age, of mixed gender, using the same toilets.
"For example, were this the case in a care home, I don't think they'd be allowed to use the same toilet facilities."
He added: "These kids are only 13 or 14 years old - it doesn't seem right to me."
Cllr Townshend said he found it "absolutely pathetic" that the East Riding Council didn't view the mixed toilet provision as a health-and-safety issue.
And he questioned why the council hadn't spent money on putting the situation right.
"It's not something that's going to cost a fortune, for goodness sake," he added.
Cllr Townshend said the council was now awaiting a response form the East Riding on this and other matters relating to the youth club such as staff pay and working hours, as well as the number of days the youth club opened.
The feeling in some quarters is that the East Riding Council doesn't want the youth club to continue and is gradually starving it of resources.
The club used to open three nights a week but now opens on just two nights - Mondays and Thursdays.
The number of youth workers and working hours has also been reduced, and the worker in charge of running the club has resigned.
These and a few other issues were set down by Snaith and Cowick Town Council in a letter to the East Riding Council, in which they asked for staff concerns and toilet provisions to be resolved.
The East Riding spokesman said officers would respond to the town council in due course.
He added, however, that the lead youth work who resigned had not been replaced and that his role had been filled by assistant workers as part of a job-sharing practice.
"The current staffing establishment is 7.5 hours for a youth worker, which is currently vacant, and 10 hours for an assistant youth worker," said the spokesman. "Following a resignation from the youth worker in charge, the council did not fill the post but shared the vacancy with the existing staff as part of vacancy management, paying the staff the appropriate rate and providing some additional time to undertake necessary administration tasks."
He added that the club had been open two nights a week from October, 2004.
Published on 12th June 2008 in News.
Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Reddit
Comments
There are currently no comments
Comment
All comments are subject to moderation (during normal office hours) and may be amended.
Email addresses are required for administration purposes only.
By contributing your comments, you accept our terms and conditions.