ALL of the public toilets in the Porthmadog area will be closed for good in November, sparking severe criticism of the county council.

Five toilets – on Porthmadog High Street, Borth y Gest, Tremadog, Traeth Morfa Bychan and Lôn Gwydryn –are set to close on 5 November by Gwynedd Council after Porthmadog Town Council refused to find the significant funds to keep them all open.

Of all the local councils in Gwynedd, only Porthmadog was asked to find funding for the five public conveniences in its area, at a cost of £16,000 a year.

The additional costs of keeping the toilets open would cause the town’s precept to rise by “nearly a third”, a cost which would have to be met by rising local taxes.

The Cambrian News understands that several town councillors felt aggrieved that they were expected to find so much more money every year, relative to other similarly sized councils.

The county council has said it is “awaiting a decision” from the town council about whether they want to enter a partnership agreement to keep the toilets open.

Town councillor Jason Humphreys was furious that Gwynedd Council had placed them in this situation.

“Public toilets are vital and several organisations representing various groups of people with illnesses and handicaps have highlighted this,” he said.

“Gwynedd’s strategy is to try and burden the meagre budgets of community councils with the costs of running public toilets, while they get to keep money from car parks, our beach, business rates, council tax and grants from general taxation. They’re trying to pass the buck as usual."

Read the full story in today’s Arfon/Dwyfor edition of the Cambrian News