FINALLY! – Bus Station Toilets to Open but OWL Criticise Councils’ Performance

UPDATE: 31st January 2024. Unfortunately the saga continues. Will any cabinet member get a grip of this? Statement from WLBC officer: “I engaged a contractor before Christmas and they set to work on rectifying the outstanding defects.  Most of these are complete apart from the issues with the door locks, which obviously are essential in ensuring accessibility and security of the building.   Eric Wright had not fitted the locks correctly and as the doors are composite steel it is not as simple as we first envisaged.  The contractor was working on a solution to retro fit the locks which unfortunately has not been possible, so plan B is to fit new doors.  The cost of this will be deducted from Eric Wright contractors final account by LCC. “

The public toilets at Ormskirk’s bus station should finally open next week after a delay of almost 6 months.  The Borough Council have confirmed that the contractor will fit outstanding parts for the automatic door locks which are expected this coming week.

While welcome, Our West Lancashire had to drag this information out of the County and Borough Councils such is their embarrassment.  Our West Lancashire went on to criticise the whole approach of the two councils over the bus station project.

Janet Ingman, OWL’s Ormskirk East spokesperson said, “I’m pleased that finally the toilets will be opened after months of delay, but the planning of the whole project was so bad with materials not available and forgetting about bird nesting seasons.  Taxi drivers told me straight away that the toucan crossing was dangerous and that’s still not in use.  How could this project cost millions?  Who got this money and was it deserved? 

There’s nobody as far as I know being investigated for such a bad job on their watch.  Where is the accountability and what do our councillors have to say?”

OWL Chairman, Adrian Owens said, “Our leading councillors both Borough and County have run for cover over this project.  They are treating residents as mushrooms.  They should remember that they are public servants and residents deserve better.  The way the project ran very overdue caused financial loss to some businesses.  Where was the apology from our council leaders? 

Even if the bus station toilets finally open thank goodness, we’ve witnessed numerous falls on the kerbing near NatWest bank and the toucan crossing on St Helens Road remains out of use.  That was another fiasco because the plans that were approved by councillors were not the plans that were constructed.  Yet I’ve not heard a word from the cabinet who approved the original plans.  It’s well past time that the Conservative and Labour Leaderships of the County and Borough councils laid out in detail everything about the finance and running of this project and why things went so wrong?”