Last updated at 09:10, Thursday, 16 April 2009

MILLOM town councillors have admitted paying £36,000 to keep the town’s public toilets open for the last three years.

They are now urging nearby Somerfield supermarket, which does not have customer toilets, to foot part of the bill.

It has been revealed that taxpayers paid out more than £10,000 in 2006/07, almost £12,000 in 2007/08 and have spent over £14,000 this financial year repairing the toilets after vandalism.

Councillor Ray Cole suggested cutting the council’s spending on the toilets and instead wants to plough the money into funding a new park keeper for St George’s Road Park.

Cllr Cole said: “The problem is with vandalism. It is a considerable amount of money that would probably fund a park keeper or something.

“And I would suggest that the majority of people who use those toilets are Somerfield customers.”

In 2006 Copeland Borough Council made an appeal for the toilets in Lancashire Road to be closed as part of cost-cutting measures.

But Millom councillors decided to refurbish the facility and keep them open.

The figures were released at a town council meeting last Wednesday.

It was said that there was no problem with the cleanliness of the toilets but councillors had received complaints from residents who often found a lack of toilet paper, soap and hand-drying facilities.

Cllr Cole also hit out at the amount of vandalism and litter in the rest of the town.

“Millom is drowning in litter.

“Millom has never been so dirty as it is now. It is deplorable and intolerable,” he said.

Cllr Cole added that the town needed to employ more street cleaners.

The topic will now be discussed at the council’s finance committee meeting next month before a decision is made on the future of the toilets.

Somerfield was unavailable for comment.

First published at 11:52, Thursday, 02 April 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk