Public consultation on the future of public toilets at Holywell, Mold and Talacre

Flintshire County Council is seeking views from members of the public and local businesses on the future of public toilets at Holywell, Mold and Talacre.

In December 2024, in planning our budget for 2025/26 the Council estimated that its day to day running costs would increase by £47.5m due to many factors outside of our control.  This was far in excess of the estimated income we would receive from our annual grant from Welsh Government, council tax and fees and charges for our services.

In February 2025 Flintshire County Council did manage to set its budget for 2025/26 which wasn't easy and it took many months to plan.  To close such a massive budget gap, lots of very difficult choices needed to be considered.  This included reducing the budget for running our public toilets, with the intention of finding different ways to provide access to toilets in these locations. 

Whilst there is no legal requirement for county councils in Wales to provide public toilets, under the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017, they do have to produce a Local Toilet Strategy setting out how people can access toilets in the community.   

Flintshire's Toilet Strategy can be found on its website.

Flintshire County Council can no longer afford to keep these public toilets running and is open to working with volunteer or community groups, town or community councils, businesses, organisations, or any combination of each, to come up with ideas/actions to maintain access to community toilet facilities in these areas.

Cabinet Member for Highways, Assets and Public Protection, Councillor Ted Palmer said: 

“It’s likely, earlier this year, Flintshire residents and businesses saw lots of stories in the media about Council plans to close public toilets in Holywell, Mold and Talacre. 

“Whilst a very difficult decision was taken to reduce the budget, it was never the intention to just close these toilets, but to work closely with residents, businesses, visitors, towns and communities to find different ways for people to access toilet facilities when out and about in these locations.  

“Although the toilets at Holywell, Mold and Talacre will remain open until alternative solutions can be found, we cannot afford to keep them open indefinitely, so we need people to get involved and spark ideas to get people talking about how they can stay open without Council funding.”

The consultation will run from Wednesday 5th November to Tuesday 2nd December 2025 and is open to everyone to have their say. 

More information about the consultation can be found here: 

www.flintshire.gov.uk/PublicToilets2025

Residents who are unable to complete the survey online can visit any of the Council’s Connects Centres where support will be available. 

Opening times can be found on the Council’s website.