OKEHAMPTON Town Council has voted to dig deep into cash reserves to keep the Market Street toilets open after being given a stark choice by the borough council – pay for repairs or see them demolished.

It will cost more than £20,000 to keep the toilets open for the coming year but town councillors decided that ‘there would be uproar in the community’ if they did not.

Councillors at a meeting on Monday night (April 29) heard from clerk Emma James that West Devon Borough Council had told her that it has no money to pay for maintenance of the building over the coming year.

Instead the borough council wants the town council to take on the costs of maintaining and repairing the building as well as cleaning and running the toilets, in a year’s lease. Mrs James said the cost to the town council was likely to be ‘at least £20,000 a year’. The cleaning costs alone would be £5,100 a year with water rates, electricity costs and maintenance on top.

Mrs James said: ‘I have heard from West Devon who say that unfortunately because they have taken the decision to close the toilets they no longer have a budget for the repairs. They could though pay the rates for this year.’

Cllr David Weekes said: ‘I feel we are being held to ransom by West Devon Borough Council.’

For the full story see this week’s edition of the Okehampton Times.