ALTHOUGH one councillor thought they could be a millstone around the council’s neck, Wellington Town Council decided at its April meeting on Monday to take over the Longforth Road public toilets which were threatened with closure by Taunton Deane Borough Council as part of a cost-cutting package, writes Tony Brown.

Unde the deal the town council will pay the Deane the nominal sum of £1 for the freehold transfer of the loos and will receive £10,562 as a on-off transfer pot to support the facilities as the town council sees fit.

Cllr Andy Govier said that the toilets were not fit for purpose at the moment. Some of them were out of action and a survey showed it would cost a considerable sum to put them right. They should be in an acceptable standard before the council took them over.  They could be a millstone around the council’s neck and he was not sure the town council should take them over.

But Cllr John Thorne said that the toilets would close if the town council did not take them over. "In the end we might have to close them but at least we will have had a go at keeping them open."

Cllr Vivienne Stock-Williams said she was concerned about the long term sustainability of the toilets but the take over would give the town council some breathing space to see if it was possible, with the co-operation of local traders, to create community toilets in the town as had been done in other towns.