Protestors campaigning against the plans for public toilets in Coventry’s central library building are to re-launch their petition.

When the news first broke that the library’s information centre was to be moved to make way for the long-awaited public loos, Bernard Moore and Ian Harris collected 2,000 signatures in less than a week.

They were then told to stay out of the library lobby with their petition, but were invited to speak to the council’s cabinet about the matter.

As anger grew among library staff, and members of the public continued to express their frustration at plans to use the information centre upstairs, Mr Moore and Mr Harris went back on the streets.

This time they collected another 1,000 signatures as they tried to persuade councillors to listen to their concerns.

And following a “huge show of support” from the public during a protest outside the library by staff yesterday, they have decided to get the petition going once more.

Mr Moore said:

”We are doing this because people have asked us to. As they have heard about the plans they have asked if they could sign the petition.”

Mr Harris added that the petition was one of the biggest in the city for years. He said:

“How many more signatures do the council need before they will listen to us?”

The main issued raised by the protestors are: the lack of consultation over the principle of the toilets going in the library, the moving of the information centre and the suitability of toilets for the library building.

SEE: [02 NOV 00] COMMENT COUNCIL SHOULD COME CLEAN OVER TOILETS