Toilets saved with days to go before closure

Town councillor David Pinder said that after a meeting with chief executive of Kirklees Council Adrian Lythgo this week, he had been assured the toilets would not shut.

Coun Pinder last week told Mirfield Town Council he would seek a meeting with Mr Lythgo to discuss the toilets, which were due to shut today.

Town councillors were sent an email earlier this month informing them the toilets would close on Friday November 22 due to unpaid bills to Kirklees Council, which owns the building.

Coun Pinder said a verbal agreement for no rent to be paid and for business rates owed by the town council to be waived until April 2014 had now been made.

He said: “We have now been given much more clarity and freedom with how we want to run them. We expect the toilets to be open indefinitely.”

The toilets have been run by Mirfield Town Council since March this year after Kirklees announced plans to shut them, but the two parties had failed to reach an agreement on the terms of the lease.

Coun Pinder said the town council was in talks with a Mirfield firm which agreed to repair the toilets free of charge. He added: “At present we will also be looking for another agency to clean the toilets.”

Coun Pinder expects proposals to be drawn up by Kirklees later this week, and will put them to the next Mirfield Town Council meeting.

A Kirklees spokeswoman said: “We can confirm the toilets in Mirfield will remain open until Wednesday November 27 pending the result of a meeting of Mirfield Town Council on Tuesday.”