Skip to content

Fort William's vandal hit Viewforth toilets reopened

News imageBBC The picture shows Fort William's Viewforth public toilet block. It has white walls and bright red supports by the entrance. A church building is visible in the backgrounds.BBC
Highland Council said the Viewforth public toilets had been targeted by vandals

Fort William's vandal hit public toilets have been reopened following a lengthy period of closure, says Highland Council.

The Viewforth site has been targeted multiple times by vandals with extensive damage being done on the most recent occasion.

Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald said it was "appalling" Highland Council had taken so long to carry out repairs.

He said the lack of public toilets at key locations in the Highlands was a serious problem in a region whose economy relied heavily of tourism.

Highland Council said contractors had been on-site since last week undertaking work.

A spokesperson said: "Viewforth toilets in Fort William have unfortunately faced persistent issues with vandalism, with the most recent incident leaving significant damage to the facilities."

MacDonald said Fort William got more than a million tourist visits a year, with many of the visitors being older people.

He said one of the main stop offs for tour buses was Viewforth car park where the public toilets are located.

MacDonald said: "Those toilets have been out of use for over six months and the council have come up with every excuse why they have not been fixed and are open for purpose.

"If you were a hospitality business and your toilets failed for any reason you'd have them fixed within 24 hours.

"It is really not good enough and it is appalling for a tourist based economy. We really need the Highland Council to get a grip of this."