Green loo for Stoer Lighthouse

Visitors to Stoerhead Lighthouse, situated in a remote but beautiful location on the North West coast of Sutherland, will soon be able to use a new green public toilet when in the area.

Stoerhead is visited by 7,500-10,000 visitors each year, including locals and tourists who stay on average for 3 hours to enjoy walking, bird and whale watching, climbing or picnicking.

There has never been a public toilet at the site and as the nearest facilities are over 6 miles away along a single track road in Clachtoll, visitors have had to 'go' in the wild. Due to the limited number of discreet places at Stoerhead, the lack of a toilet has led to a very unhygienic and unpleasant situation in this much visited spot

Leigh Sedgley of The Living the Dream tea van, which is sited in the walker’s car park at the Lighthouse, placed a Toilet Fund’ collection box on her counter and between last April and September she raised £1000.

Leigh then approached the Assynt Community Association (ACA) for their support and a proposal was developed to install a single dry composting toilet at the site which would be of low maintenance, environmentally friendly and would use locally sourced, sustainable materials

Planning permission, a building warrant and SEPA registration were all granted and the additional funding raised by 2 grants from Highland and Island Enterprise (HIE) and a Ward Discretionary grant from The Highland Council meant that the project could go ahead for the 2013 season and the new toilet should be fully functional within a few weeks.

The North West and Central Sutherland Ward members were very supportive on the project and happy to contribute money from their discretionary fund.  Councillor George Farlow said: "It’s all thanks to Leigh’s tenacity that we achieved the provision of a toilet at Stoer Head.  It will give the many visitors a much more pleasant experience and fits in very well with making local places more accessible.  We have amazing scenery and wildlife spotting opportunities and a great network of footpaths so it is all about encouraging more people to get out and about and spend time exploring the great outdoors.”