As Okehampton Town Council starts to consider next year’s budget, councillors revisited the possibility of closing the public toilets on Market Street at a recent meeting.

The controversial topic was raised as the council begins to debate ways of saving money and investigated whether it was obliged to keep the toilets open as part of a legal agreement with West Devon Borough Council.

However, the possibility of closure has raised concerns among some councillors who argued that the toilets are invaluable to many people, who could be at a complete loss if Waitrose were ever to close its toilets.

Cllr Tony Leech said: “If Waitrose were to close their toilets then they have to keep Market Street going because Market Street was built as long as [Waitrose] didn’t have toilets. They have to remain - it doesn’t mean that West Devon have to maintain them but they certainly can’t pull it down.”

Cllr Julie Yelland added that the toilets were used frequently by many people including taxi and bus drivers and their passengers and even mums on the school run.

She added that the council might consider delaying a decision until the BID (business improvement district) had been approved and suggested that businesses might want to contribute towards the cost of the toilets’ maintenance.

“I am a bit inclined to say we continue to run [the toilets] until we have found the outcome of the BID,” she said.

“That could be part of the discussion to see if the BID would be willing to take it forward because it is the businesses that benefit from them...remaining open...rather than just shutting down the lease and say ‘no, we are not going to maintain them anymore’ which means they effectively become closed.”

Councillors agreed to this proposal and passed the motion meaning that the town council will continue to maintain the toilets until the BID is approved and set up at the very least. If approved, the BID could start running at the beginning of the 2024 financial year.

According to the lease agreement with West Devon Borough Council, the borough council has no obligation to maintain the toilets but neither is Okehampton Town Council obliged to keep them open - a fact which has lead to this ongoing discussion.

At the end of last year, councillors first discussed the possibility of closing the Market Street toilets as a way of reducing an increase in council tax. This proved to be an unpopular suggestion and a public survey followed, which showed residents were in favour of the toilets remaining open.

In 2018, the town council discussed implementing a payment system for the toilets but the idea was rejected due to the expense of setting up the barriers, which would have cost the concil several thousand pounds.