Green Councillor Chris Musgrave has coordinated an unprecedented move to exercise powers granted under Exeter City Council’s constitution and call in the decision to close the Musgrave Row public toilets, near central library. Cllr Musgrave gained support from six councillors to have the decision revisited at a special scrutiny meeting to be held before the election. The move comes following discussions at full council meeting last night which agreed to the closure of a number of public toilets across the city.
Cllr Chris Musgrave said:
“This is a relatively unprecedented step. Never in my time as a councillor have these powers been used to call in a decision of the Labour-led Executive.”
“Closing public toilets across the city will cause significant issues for a cross section of our residents. In particular, Musgrave Row provides important facilities for the city’s significant homeless population. Labour made a commitment in 2016 to extend the opening hours of this facility. They have now done a U-bend on this and plan to close these important and well used facilities. It this closure does go ahead, dozens of homeless residents will be left with nowhere to go, leading to an unhygienic and inhuman result for everyone in Exeter.”
“Once again, the Green Party are leading the charge against the disastrous decisions of the Labour council, but I am grateful for the support of all opposition parties on this. We disagree on many subjects but are united in our view that we need to rid ourselves of this busted Labour flush.”