VISITORS' first impressions of Cornwall as they enter the county at Gunnislake could be marred by boarded up public conveniences on the A390 if Cornwall Council proceeds with plans to shut the toilets.

Under the council's public convenience review it is proposed to provide a grant to keep the Calstock public toilets open but not those at Gunnislake.

The authority is currently consulting with parish and town councils to discuss options on the future of public conveniences. It is proposing to cease the funding of 114 out of the 240 loos in the county.

In order to make savings, the council is looking to cut the money it spends on public toilets by half, from £3-million to £1.5-million.

It is offering a grant of £6,914 towards the Calstock toilets which cost £8,780 a year to run.

The parish council was told that the Gunnislake toilets would be boarded up if they were closed down but is giving the parish the option of taking them on.

Cllr Mike Greenwood said he would not like to see either of the public conveniences shut: 'Gunnislake is a village of 3,000-plus people which sees an awful lot of through traffic.

'The toilets have a public car park next to them and people parking there would expect to find a public loo. There is also a doctors' surgery nearby. It is a well used facility that serves the A390.

Cllr Dorothy Kirk said she believed there was no other public convenience on the main road between Gunnislake and Lostwithiel.

'I thought it would be council policy to provide regular service points on the main trunk road. It seems Cornwall Council wants the parish to take on something that is for the county's benefit.'

Cllr Jerome Irons added: 'Boarded up toilets are a great welcome to Cornwall. I'm sure they will soon have some graffiti on them as well as our kids are not perfect. What a great advert for the county.'

Councillors said scrapping the business rates on public toilets would help make them more affordable for parishes to take on. They also said that taking over the car park from Cornwall Council, if it was still an option, and the subsequent funds from that would make keeping the Gunnislake toilets open more feasible.

They said Calstock toilets would need more than a one-off grant to keep them open into the future. 'Otherwise we would have to increase the precept drastically and that is not an option,' said Cllr Dave Skilling.

Mr Allen said he would go back to Cornwall Council and ask the questions raised by councillors before the matter was discussed again.