– after approving closure of public toilets
DAILY MAIL – Three senior council members have been caught urinating in public – in an area where they have earmarked a number of public toilets for closure.
The three councillors – including the town mayor – were reprimanded in front of colleagues after a complaint was made against them, it has emerged.
They had been spotted relieving themselves in a hedge after being caught short on an official fact-finding tour.
The councillors, members of Fenland District Council Planning Committee in Cambridgeshire, UK were on a coach trip around towns and villages to look at sites which were the subject of planning applications.
When they stopped near Wisbech, Councillor Bernard Keane, the octogenarian Mayor of March, was first off the bus to find a hedge.
Half an hour later, as the coach pulled into another site, the veteran Tory set off again to attend the call of nature but this time was joined by two others.
Planning committee member Jan French was on board the bus but refused to discuss the incidents.
French said: “How did you find out about this? You’re blowing it all out of proportion.”
In future the coach will be routed so that stops can be made.
Ironically Fenland Council is set to shut seven of the 11 public toilets in the four market towns.
Another councillor, who asked not to be named, said they should have asked the driver to stop at public loos.
The anonymous councillor said: “If you were an applicant and saw a councillor up against a tree what would you think?
“Urinating in a public place is simply not on – and particularly as the council often has a number of young female planning officials on board the bus.”