Portishead could be left without any public toilets

Portishead could be left without public toilets in a few weeks unless a deal is struck between the town and district council about who is to run them.

North Somerset Council is to withdraw the £400,000 it costs to run all of the 29 public toilets across the district, including the ones at Wyndham Way and the Lake Grounds, from April 1.

But a deal has yet to be struck between the town council and North Somerset about who will run the conveniences.

And unless the situation is resolved in the next six weeks, both the loos will close – leaving Portishead, which has a population of around 22,000 people, without any public conveniences.

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Other town and parish councils have already agreed to take over the running of loos in their areas.

But councillors in Portishead say both sets of conveniences are in such a poor state of repair that work needs to be done to bring them up to an acceptable standard.

North Somerset Council has cash available to help town and parish councils take over assets such as toilets which could be used to upgrade the conveniences.

But the town council would have to agree to take ownership of the loos before the cash would be available to carry out the work.

If a takeover deal is struck the town council could then lease the running of the toilets to a concessionaire or operate them itself.

A concessionaire has already come forward willing to take over a number of loos in North Somerset, but has said it would introduce charging to help cover the running costs of the conveniences.

Now town leaders are asking North Somerset to cut through the red tape and carry out the work itself ahead of any takeover being agreed.

Councillor David Pasley said: “If the money is going to be made available to the town council to upgrade the toilets I do not see why North Somerset just don’t appoint a contractor and get the work done.

“It just seems like needless red tape. Funding runs out on April 1 and we have six weeks to come to some sort of agreement with North Somerset.

“If we don’t there is a risk that Portishead could be left without public toilets.”

The move comes at the same time as Portishead Senior Citizens Forum called on the town council to ensure public loos remained in the town.

North Somerset Council spokesman Nick Yates said: “We do welcome Portishead Town Council’s willingness to consider taking on these toilets and agree that it is reasonable to expect these facilities to be brought up to a good standard as part of the transfer.

“We have a specific funding scheme called the community investment fund and have been encouraging town and parish councils to make bids to cover the cost of repairs identified in condition surveys we've carried out. We want to stress that there is room for negotiation and we are flexible about whether repairs are done pre or post transfer.”