What the Scots spend our taxes on - a 50K bog!

[Rum]

Let them have independence I say. They will be bankrupt in 5 years - or less!

From the Beeb: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-h ... s-17338746


Scottish Wildlife Trust builds £50,000 loo on Handa

A public toilet is being built at a cost of £50,000 on a tiny isle that is uninhabited for six months of the year.

The loo on Handa off Scotland's north west coast is being constructed in such a way that it can withstand gale-force winds and be eco-friendly.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), which manages the isle, said it was needed for about 6,000 birdwatchers who visit over spring and summer.

The island now has a small bothy and toilet for volunteers and SWT staff.

However, the facilities cannot cope with the annual influx of birdwatchers.

The foundations for the new toilet need to be two metres (7ft) deep to stop it from blowing into the Atlantic.

With no running water on the island, people who use it will sprinkle sawdust after a visit. It will be cleared out every two years.

Highland Council and the Scottish government have contributed towards its cost.

Handa has about 100,000 seabirds, including 250 pairs of puffins.

Great skua are another popular species with ornithologists, but are known to dive bomb people and attack other seabirds.

Handa lies three miles (4.8km) off Sutherland's coast and is about 763 acres (309 hectares) in size.

Rock climbing as a hobby and a sport is said to have started on the island. Three men from Lewis, in the Western Isles, ascended its Great Stac in 1876.

[Ronja]

R: Holy shit!

M: Literally...

[klr]

This is all part of a secret Alex Salmond plot designed to make you English want to give the Scots independence.

[Twoflower]

For fucks sake

[mistermack]

Seems over the top.
7 ft foundations? I seem to remember they found a village intact on one of the Islands, with walls still intact, more than five thousand years old. With no foundations.
I thought those Islands were mostly rock anyway.

I don't like the sound of no flush either. For fifty grand, you'd expect a flush.
There must be little rivulets they could pump fresh water from into a tank. It never stops raining in Scotland for fuck's sake.

[Rum]

Seems over the top.
7 ft foundations? I seem to remember they found a village intact on one of the Islands, with walls still intact, more than five thousand years old. With no foundations.
I thought those Islands were mostly rock anyway.

I don't like the sound of no flush either. For fifty grand, you'd expect a flush.
There must be little rivulets they could pump fresh water from into a tank. It never stops raining in Scotland for fuck's sake.

You sound like you are on speed.

[mistermack]

You sound like you are on speed.

Ha, if you knew me, you would know just how wide of the mark that is.
You would need a big dinner of mogodoms to slow down to my pace.

[Feck]

Ok but 100,000 seabirds including some that are endangered will be safe guarded .. Cumbria has funded an arts project to the tune of £93K what is endangered about second rate provincial arts projects ? In 100 years time will our ancestors be more upset that several species of birds do not visit their traditional nesting sites any more or that the Cumbrians didn't get to exhibit their little fluffy sheep @ART

[Twoflower]

Ok but 100,000 seabirds including some that are endangered will be safe guarded .. Cumbria has funded an arts project to the tune of £93K what is endangered about second rate provincial arts projects ? In 100 years time will our ancestors be more upset that several species of birds do not visit their traditional nesting sites any more or that the Cumbrians didn't get to exhibit their little fluffy sheep @ART

The fluffy sheep are pretty cute...

[Tero]

Perfect use of funds. The Wildlife outfit is just marking their territory.

[Rum]

The Cumbria project will be from Arts Council ring fenced (and much reduced these days) funds, whereas the shithouse on the Scottish Island is part funded by the Scottish gubmint it says.

[MrJonno]

£50000 for a public utility that will be used by 6000 people per year, whether this is a 'good' spend is up to debate but its hardly a terrible one

[Svartalf]

Don't forget the maintenance costs... no way to know how much this thing will really amount to, and I'd like to know what's the 5 year overall cost for a more normal public dunny to be installed in such a remote area (that is, without attendant sewer system)

[Clinton Huxley]

Like Scotland doesn't have enough bogs.

[Thinking Aloud]

It sounds like everyone here thinks that ferrying a Portaloo over on a dingy is a viable alternative.

The £50,000 loo with a view is made of steel and is expected to take a team of five men six days to build on an island so difficult to reach it took two landing craft several attempts to land the specially designed materials on shore.

Most of the waste will turn to compost and it will only need to be cleared out every two to three years.

By comparison, an automatic (but free) public loo in Cardiff costs around £21,300 per year to run; others outside the city centre cost around £15,000 per year - and these aren't staffed, and that doesn't include the cost of building them.