Drymen is getting desperate for help to tackle “disgusting” wild toileting issues say community councillors.
Closure of the village’s public toilets more than a decade ago then withdrawal of funding for a ‘comfort partnership’ arrangement with local businesses have seen visitors having to spend a penny - and more - in “the most inappropriate” places.
And local stalwarts are warning the public nuisance could soon be a public health hazard.
Drymen Community Council secretary Andrew Richardson told the Observer: “Drymen public toilets were closed and replaced with a ‘Comfort Partner’, as part of spending cuts driven by Stirling Council.
“Additional spending cuts during the pandemic saw Stirling Council withdraw the ‘Comfort Partner’ funding, leaving Drymen with no public toilets.
“With Drymen sitting on the West Highland Way and being the gateway to east Loch Lomond, the number of visitors passing through Drymen increases each year.
“But with no public toilets available, visitors are forced to ‘wild toilet’ - usually in the most inappropriate places and with obviously disgusting results.
“Whilst representatives of both Stirling Council and the National Park Authority have acknowledged the need for public toilets within Drymen, it has been left to Drymen Community Council and its community partners to try and address the problem.
“However, without the assistance and support of Stirling Council, what is currently a public nuisance will soon become a public health hazard.”
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The community council has appealed to locals to back their efforts to have public toilets reinstated in the village or to come up with other ideas.
In a message posted on their social media, the community council said: “We have received a lot of feedback and contact via various channels since we posted information about the lack of public toilets, the roads restrictions associated with the Catter Burn bridge closure etc.
“It’s fair to say that our community is less than pleased with the services it is receiving from the authorities. However, whilst we appreciate the feedback, we need the support of our community to give us weight in our dealings with the authorities.”
A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “We would encourage members of the public to act responsibly and respect local communities when they visit council areas.”Where people go to the toilet has been an ongoing issue in the rural areas in recent years.
In 2019 Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park launched a scheme to encourage campers to toilet responsibly outdoors including posters being displayed, information on the location of the nearest public toilets and trowels being made available to borrow.
Last April Crianlarich farmer Nicky Cory-Wright erected signage urging visitors to “poo responsibly” after her working dogs repeatedly discovered human waste near her land.
Similar complaints of human waste littering the countryside were also raised on the West Highland Way backpacking route from Milngavie to Fort William and farmers around Balmaha and Drymen also complained about the mess left behind by ‘wild campers’.
In June 2018, the Observer told how thoughtless walkers were accused of leaving litter and excrement along the West Highland Way. The concerns were raised by Blanefield resident, Bob Sharp, who called for better upkeep of the 96-mile route.
In June 2020 Friends of Loch Lomond and Trossachs asked for lockdown restrictions to be eased to allow public toilets to reopened to stop people parking dangerously and going to the toilet on public beaches, woodlands and even in residents’ gardens in Luss and Balmaha.
And In March last year we reported on plans to turn an area of Crianlarich once blighted by visitors leaving human waste into a community garden after a local community trust said there was an issue with “people defecating in the scrub area”.
