COUNCILLORS were accused of “talking bollards” when they were discussing safety measures being installed at new public toilets in Wellington.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s economic development committee met on June 10 where they discussed putting in safety bollards at the new toilets set to be put in at Longforth Road to try and stop the building from being damaged by being crashed into be vehicles.

It comes after the original toilet block at the site had to be eventually pulled down after a car smashed into the building back in December 2022 and made it unsafe.

Now the site has been cleared and preparation works have been carried out in readiness for the new toilet block – which will be a modular building – to be put into place on Sunday, July 26.

But Cllr John Thorne, speaking at the council meeting, said that spending over £7,000 on bollards might be an over-reaction to the incident from four years ago.

“Who says we need bollards by the new toilets?” he asked. “We have had one car accident there in 60 years.”

The council’s chief executive, Dave Farrow, said: “A modular building isn’t as strong as a brick-built building and so the risk assessor has advised that we should have bollards, although there is no legal requirement for us to have them.”

The mayor, Cllr Mark Lithgow, said he would not want to run the risk of any vehicle-related damage to the new building.

Committee chairman, Cllr Keith Wheatley, quipped that he could envisage the newspaper headlines about councillors who were “talking bollards.”

Councillors supported the proposal for bollards to be installed at a cost of up to £7,300.

They also agreed to spend up to £5,000 on a planter being put outside the toilets with the money coming from the council’s town centre projects budget.