TOWN councillors in Porthmadog have voted to save two public toilets from the axe – but three others look set to close.

In a split vote, Porthmadog Town Council agreed to spend £8,000 a year to keep the town’s High Street toilets and public conveniences in Borth-y-Gest open.

However, toilets in Tremadog, Traeth Morfa Bychan and Lôn Gwydryn will now close permanently as the council felt it could not afford the additional £8,000 to keep all the area’s facilities open.

There had been much talk about the future of the toilets in Porthmadog, with fears expressed about the knock-on effect for tourism.

However, the council felt that the £16,000 needed to keep all the toilets open – a third of the council’s precept – was too big a price to pay.

Town councillor Jason Humphreys was vehemently against Porthmadog having to pay anything for the toilets, believing that the county council should take responsibility for the facilities.

He said: “Last budget, they (Gwynedd Council) boasted that council tax had not been increased by as much as planned. What they have done instead is to pass the increase on to fearful community councils.

“Before this decision to contribute £8,000 to Gwynedd, we weren’t responsible for the toilets. In future, this argument will no longer not be valid as Gwynedd Council comes back for more and more.

“It was a very short-sighted and wrong decision. Porthmadog Town Council has now opened its door to a vampire that will suck it for more and more of its resources in the future.”

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