A PUBLIC toilet block that has been shut for four years will reopen this weekend after a £15,000 refurbishment.

The Caroline Street toilets in Saltaire will officially open to the public at 2pm tomorrow.

The toilet block, which sits in the car park next to the Caroline Street Social Club, was closed back in 2017 by their current owner and previous operator, Bradford Council.

This was following major cutbacks in local government funding which affected toilet provision across the Bradford district and in other parts of the country.

But in May this year, the recently-formed Shipley Town Council agreed to take on a licence to run the toilets.

The licence is without rent and is initially on a one year trial basis.

The money has been used to deep-clean the facilities, repaint it in the heritage colour "Saltaire Green" and generally repair the toilets..

It was funded by the Town Council's parish precept, a small amount of additional Council Tax raised from Shipley households for spending in Shipley, and a portion of the town's Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which is raised mainly from new housing developments in the area.

The toilets will be open between 8am and 8pm during the summer months, in normal circumstances, including weekends.

They will be no charge initially and will be cleaned once per day.

Councillor Mike Connors, the Chair of Shipley Town Council, will be cutting the ribbon on the refreshed toilet block on Saturday.

He said: "We ultimately owe the re-opening of this much-needed facility to Robbie Martin, who had the foresight to successfully petition for the creation of Shipley Town Council.

"Without the new town council, it is unlikely that Saltaire's toilets would have been re-opened in 2021, if ever.

"However, I would also like to thank Saltaire Village Society, the officers of which worked hard to lay the foundations for this project."

Shipley Town Council is now considering how to approach the lack of public toilets elsewhere in the town.

The town centre's toilets in Shipley Market Square have been closed and partly sold-off by Bradford Council, but the £25million Shipley Town Deal Fund, recently agreed in principle by central government, presents an opportunity to restore the service.  

The Town Council also hopes to work with Bradford Council to provide public toilets in Northcliffe Park and to open discussions about better toilet provision in Roberts Park (which is located within Baildon Town Council's area but part of the Saltaire World Heritage Site).

This follows the recent reopening of a toilet at Shipley railway station.