Background Information

In February 2016 full council resolved that the funding for the public conveniences had to be withdrawn as part of the ongoing savings that were required to set a legally balanced budget. In order to try and prevent the toilets being closed the council also decided to offer the assets to the relevant Parish or Town Council.

Following this decision officers have been working to complete the transfer of titles for the public conveniences to the Parish and Town Councils.

An anomaly exists preventing the council from transferring the title of the public conveniences located on St Helens Green. Namely the toilet is within the common land parcel CL20. In order to be able to transfer the title of the toilet the council must carry out a number of steps. The first step is to apply to correct the Commons Register by proposing to remove the toilet block as it already existed at the time of the provisional registration and should not have been included in the registration. This first step requires the council to engage in a public consultation on the matter.

Once the consultation is completed the council must then submit an application to the Planning Inspectorate for determination as the regulations do not allow the council to determine its own proposal.

If the application to the Planning Inspectorate is successful the council can then proceed to register the title of the toilet at the Land Registry and once this is confirmed the council can then move on to completing the conveyance of the property to St Helens Parish Council.