Outrage

However, when the issue of the toilets in the Riverside Gardens was discussed, there was much outrage that the facilities were closed but, not for the first time, there was a marked reluctance among parish councillors to actually discuss what the problem was.

The toilets in the Riverside Gardens are closed because of vandalism. Not casual, mindless vandalism, like broken windows, graffiti and the like, but damage caused by a determined and sustained attack, probably by one person whose motive, although never openly stated but sometimes hinted at and alluded to in the council chamber, is thought to be clear.

The toilets have in the past been used for casual liaisons in the dark between homosexual men. The outraged toilet vandal wants to prevent this activity. Why else would he or she go to the trouble of buying waterproof cement to dump down the pan of the vandal-proof loo, thus ensuring its closure?

However, whenever the subject comes up at Ilkley Town Hall, coyness and euphemisms seem to triumph over commonsense and the subject of the real problem of the toilets is swept under the carpet once again.

It may not be polite to discuss such things in public or, some may think, in a family newspaper but unless someone grasps the nettle we are going to lose a valuable public facility for tourists and residents alike.

Ilkley Parish Council, Bradford Council cleansing bosses, the police and the citizens of Ilkley need to work together, firstly to identify the problem and discuss what can be done about it - without trying to pretend that unsavoury aspects of life do not exist.

At least if all those agencies express a determination to get the toilets open and, once they are opened, prevent them being used for 'cottaging', the mad vandal, whoever it is, might just give up.