Nearby residents have been urged to sign a petition to save public toilets on Poppit Sands beach and across Pembrokeshire.  

Those living near the picturesque tourist hotspot in communities along the River Teifi, like St Dogmaels and Cardigan, have been called on to sign.  

The Poppit Sands Surf Lifesaving Club posted a petition on Facebook which aims to save Pembrokeshire’s public toilets from the county council’s cost-cutting plan that could see more than 30 closed. 

The club posted on Facebook: “Could you and your family manage without toilets at Poppit Sands? 

“Closing the toilets would mean we lose our Blue Flag status overnight. 

“What happens when someone needs to ‘go’? 

“Will you want to spend time walking on the beach or in the dunes, knowing what unpleasantries may lay there?” 

The petition started by county resident Carl Shutt - now with 2,000 signatures - states: “The closing of public toilets in Pembrokeshire will not only affect the 150,00 residents but will impact on the seven million tourists who visit each year. It will be hugely detrimental to the economy. 

“Children, people with disabilities, and the aged can't afford to spend the time, are unable and will be unwilling to find hospitality venues even if they are welcome. 

“There are other services that could be cut. Pembrokeshire County Council have previously been proliferated with benefits paid to officers and other undemocratic spends.”

Blue Flag recognition - which Poppit Sands was awarded in 2016 - is a prestigious international award scheme from the Foundation for Environmental Education charity which aims to provide assurance to bathers that a beach has met a minimum standard of water quality.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s cabinet approved the local toilet strategy for 2023 at the end of last month which outlines a plan to continue providing public toilets only on a ‘cost neutral’ basis.  

A report prepared for the meeting said: “We will focus our investment on key priority areas to aid improvements and modernisations, with an understanding that the investment pot is limited.” 

That report suggested a one-year sum of money – £360,000 – be made available from the affordable housing provision, collected from the second homes tax premium, be used to keep toilets open while any negotiations take place. 

Poppit Sands West, near the mouth of the Teifi River flowing out from Cardigan and St Dogmaels, saw 1,500 hours of sewage discharges from nearly 140 individual dumps - the twelfth highest duration in Wales last year.