NORTH Tawton will fight to keep its public toilets which are earmarked for closure due to borough council budget cuts.

North Tawton is one of eight parishes in West Devon which have been told they will lose public conveniences in their areas from April 1 ? unless they are willing to pay for their upkeep.

North Tawton Town Council last week reiterated its request for West Devon Council chief executive David Incoll to attend its next meeting to explain the reasons behind the closure.

At a meeting of the town council last week, Cllr John Kinsey told members: ?I think we have got to go back to West Devon and say we are prepared to take them on.

?But I don?t see why the people of North Tawton should have to pay twice.?

Cllr Kinsey said the cost to the town of just running the toilets was likely to put up the town council?s precept by 20% to 25%. He said it was ?morally wrong? that council tax payers should have to face this burden as well as subsidising other places in the borough that will keep their public toilets.

Councillors were angry that a recent report from the borough council listed considerable defects of the building due to lack of maintenance which would now mean considerable expense to the town council if it took on the running of the facility.

They said the borough council had carried out no maintenance work on the toilets since 1996, causing them to deteriorate into a poor state of repair.

There was excitement in North Tawton that the town was at long last set to get a much-needed car park at the Blogg?s Garage site, said the councillors, which they hoped would boost trade in the town.

?The minute we get a car park which can bring business into the town, they decide to close the toilets,? said Cllr Kinsey.

Members agreed that North Tawton was an expanding town on the Tarka Trail with a growing population, and the toilets should be kept open if a way could be found to do so.

Councillors decided they would continue to take responsibility for cleaning the toilets while negotiations with West Devon Borough Council were continuing.

Two representatives from the borough council have agreed to attend the next meeting of the town council.