THE currently closed public toilets in Longforth Road, Wellington, could stay shut for more than two years.

Town councillors hope the renovation or rebuilding of the toilets will be completed long before a projected finish date of January, 2025.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s policy and resources committee met on Tuesday (June 20) where they heard about the latest plans for the rebuilding or renovation of the toilet block.

Town clerk Dave Farrow presented councillors with a detailed plan and risk register for the work which had been developed with project and cost management consultants Ravenslade.

“If we follow the process we should be finished by January, 2025,” he said.

Mr Farrow said there was a lot of work that needed to be done including various surveys and to make sure it was perfectly asbestos-free for building work to be carried out. But he was quick to reiterate that there were no concerns about asbestos being involved.

“There is absolutely nothing to suggest that there is asbestos, but we just need to be 100 per cent certain,” he said. “I don’t want stories going out saying that there is an asbestos risk with the toilets.”

Councillors mentioned that they were still aware that no budget had yet been given for the transformation of the toilet block.

Mr Farrow explained that putting a price tag against the project was a bit of a “chicken and an egg” situation. “We will need to see the costs involved before we can set a budget,” he explained.

Cllr Andrew Govier said he was “quite shocked” to see that the envisaged finish date was not until January, 2025.

“I was expecting January, 2024, but perhaps I was being naïve,” he said. “We should do all we can to reduce that timescale.”

The Mayor, Cllr Marcus Barr, realising that building costs were going up, said: “We are going to have to be quite smart when we set the budget.”

And Cllr Mike McGuffie added: “Most of the risks get worse with time and I’m worried that the costs might spiral.”

The toilet block was already much-maligned by the public before things took an unexpected turn when a car crashed into the building just before Christmas last year and caused extensive damage, resulting in structural issues.

The partially demolished building has been fenced off - awaiting the start of work to refurbish the site.

Mr Farrow told councillors that once an insurance claim for the damage had been sorted the council would be in more of a position about what funding would be needed for the overall project.