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New plans published for refurbished public toilets in Wick – significant step forward for facility which should be open by end of this year





An artist's impression of the new toilet facilities at Whitechapel Road in Wick.
An artist's impression of the new toilet facilities at Whitechapel Road in Wick.
The grubby Whitechapel toilets were closed by the council due to vandalism two years ago.
The grubby Whitechapel toilets were closed by the council due to vandalism two years ago.

The Whitechapel Road toilets in Wick, closed after vandalism two years ago, will hopefully be open for use again by the end of this year.

That was a point brought up on Monday evening by Wick and East Caithness councillor Raymond Bremner, at a meeting of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council (RBWCC), who said that the project "had taken another step forward".

Cllr Bremner added: "A planning application for the new designs and refurbishment of the building has been submitted to the council’s planning department and has been uploaded on the council’s planning portal.

Whitechapel Road public convenience redesign plan.
Whitechapel Road public convenience redesign plan.

"The plans show the new pitched roof that will replace the current roof fitted with photovoltaic solar panels and a canopy over the entrances and external public lockers for travellers, shoppers and town centre users. Also included, is a new updated floor plan, proposed elevation plans and a visual plan of the completed building."

Addressing the RBWCC members, Cllr Bremner said he was delighted to see that the project has been submitted for planning permission and "steadily progressed". If there are no issues with the process, he hopes that planning permission will be granted soon "in order to put the project out for tender".

Artist's impression of the new facility looking down Whitechapel Road from High Street.
Artist's impression of the new facility looking down Whitechapel Road from High Street.

Asked if there was a time frame in respect of the delivery of the project, the councillor said: “If there are no issues with the planning process or building warrants, I’d like to think that a contract could be awarded with a contractor on site by the end of July. It is estimated that the whole construction project will take about three months to deliver, so I suspect we are looking at completion around about November time.”

Floor plan for the new toilets.
Floor plan for the new toilets.

Cllr Bremner also stated that now that the Whitechapel Road public convenience is making final progress he hopes that the focus can turn now to regenerating the Camps area of the town.

“The council shut the Camps public convenience about three years ago as part of a plan to close a number of public conveniences around the Highlands. It is clear that was not what people wanted. It impacted on communities and also on our town centre.

"We reviewed the Camps public convenience when first reviewing the Whitechapel Road public convenience. Options have already been looked at for that building. We now need to look at what funding might be available to progress that project and, given the time it took to get where we are with the Whitechapel Road building, we need to start focusing on this as soon as possible."

Last year, RBWCC chair Joanna Coghill lamented the closure of the facility and the amount of time it was taking to move plans forward. At a community council meeting in June 2021, she said: "The fact is that Wick has no public toilets at all, and has been without them for so long now. For the size of this town, this is no longer acceptable. Rome wasn't built in a day – we can certainly say the same for the Whitechapel toilets reopening."

Related articles:

Funding for £250,000 revamped public toilets in Wick in place

Enough is enough, says community council chairperson as Wick public toilets remain closed


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