Some thing stinks about this whole Market Place toilet business

Vast sums of money were supposedly spent on the redevelopment of Salisbury Market Place. Councillor Jane Scott was quoted, just before the preparation for the redevelopment, as wishing to see a tidied up medieval market place and not some marble palazzo.

Salisbury got neither! Despite the money! Thanks to the men put in charge of the scheme – Councillor Richard Clewer and Richard Walters, Head of Service, Major Projects what Salisbury did get was a shambolic mix of half-baked ideas including a set of WWI bunkers as public toilets, a strange Water Closet building for the disabled and the most hideous set of public seats anyone has ever laid eyes on. Let’s not mention the ghastly tree surrounds that have been reported to be killing the trees!

There was no planning permission for any of this so no member of the public had any chance to object. The man who made sure there was no planning application was Richard Walters.

The now defunct Salisbury Vision, of which both these men were board members, did submit a planning application but due to the inadequacies of that application it had to be officially withdrawn and the Vision stomped off in a huff. (Remember the named applicant was Mr Walters and he was a key member of the Vision board!) Shortly afterwards that same Mr Walters sprinkled his public service fairy dust and contrived a backdoor way to avoid the need for any planning application. Salisbury’s public could go whistle!

The man put in charge of the overall redevelopment was Councillor Richard Clewer, at the time chairman of the Area Board. The stone used for the surface was never put on public display and the local taxpayers were forced to like it or lump it. Lots of official excuses were then made for delays and several claims were made that the work was finished when it clearly wasn’t.

Salisbury ended up with a permanently grease stained and slippery yard, disgusting toilet arrangements, a hideous disabled toilet hut and all surrounded by piles of commercial rubbish along with ugly, smelly rubbish skips. Councillor Clewer has since been seen staring at the toilets and mountains of rubbish in the company of other public officials. Clearly these public servants were incapable of making a decision about dealing with any of this otherwise Salisbury would have already seen a beneficial result.

The toilets remain highly objectionable and smelly. Yet the Salisbury BID has just had expensive “wayfinding totems” erected around the city. The BID business manager Steve Goodwin said: “This year is particularly important . . . as we celebrate the 800th year of Magna Carta.” Perhaps he and his unelected cronies would also claim that the stinking public toilets represent the ‘medieval’ aspects of our city and the “potentially thousands of extra visitors” should savour that stench and reflect upon the historical implications whilst reading their copies of Magna Carta.

The BID could, of course, have arranged for the toilets to be reconditioned and the rubbish properly dealt with, especially as the BID works hand in hand with Wiltshire Council and Salisbury City Council. It didn’t! Will we have to wait another 800 years?

There is absolutely no facility in place for any of these officially appointed tinkerers to be held to account for the hideous violation they continue to wreak upon the medieval city of Salisbury and its people, so let’s hope the anticipated hordes of visitors bring their own tins of air freshener with them – they might consider plastic overshoes as well! Or perhaps the BID will now be appointing wardens to stand at the toilet entrances handing out latex gloves and overshoes then spraying the visitors down with Febreze as they leave.

With this as the only offered solution may I get in early and suggest that these wardens are clearly identified with ‘WC – Maintaining Bog Standards’ emblazoned upon their high visibility jackets!

Eric G Hart

Salisbury