A VOLUNTEER-LED campaign to save Fairbourne’s toilets from closure has been hailed a success.

Last year, Gwynedd Council announced that they were to withdraw funding for public toilets as they no longer had the necessary budget to maintain services across the county.

Local dignitaries in and around Fairbourne were shocked to find that they would be required to spend £6,000 every year to enter into a partnership with the local authority, a sum the local community could simply not afford.

The threats of closure sparked concerns amongst local residents and businesses as there were concerns visitors would be driven away from the seaside community, causing significant damage to the local economy.

Following a heated meeting with Gwynedd Council’s head of highways and municipal waste, Gwyn Morris Jones, last summer, Mike Scott, who is chair of the community council but was acting as a resident, set up a Fairbourne and Friog Community Convenience Fund.

They raised money by asking the community council, residents and businesses to contribute, in addition to asking toilet users to make a small donation and has succeeded in keeping both toilets - at Station Road and Penrhyn Drive South – open.

A new disability-friendly toilet is also planned for the future.

Mr Scott is delighted with how the scheme has run so far: “Something had to be done, we couldn’t just let the toilets go."

Read the full story in this week’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News