THE WOODMEAD Halls’ toilets should remain closed until September to allow the council to gain a better understanding of public demand.

This was the recommendation of councillors at the Lyme Regis Strategy and Policy Committee at a meeting on April 20.

The decision follows a row over the running of the toilets and the cost of their upkeep.

Now councillors want to gauge public opinion and whether the toilets should be opened at a later date.

As reported in the Bridport & Lyme Regis News, Lyme Regis Town Council had offered the Woodmead Halls management committee £15,700 a year to continue running the public toilets – but the offer was labelled “a joke”.

The current service level agreement (SLA) for the Woodmead Halls toilets amounted to £25,200 per year and expired at the end of March.

The toilets have therefore been closed since April 1 and are set to remained shut over the summer..

A meeting was held on April 4 to determine if the two sides could reach an agreement.

The reason for the request for this meeting was, that although a decision had been taken, the council wanted to keep the door open in a final effort to try and achieve a way forward.

The meeting ended with a decision that the Woodmead Halls Committee should come to a conclusion and subsequent decision and return to the council in due course.

Cllr Steve Miller said: “The general inference was that our proposal would not be agreed upon and that the Woodmead Halls’ Toilets, used by the public, would be closed for the foreseeable future.”

Speaking at the Strategy and Policy Committee, Cllr Daryl Turner, said: “I think it is right to wait to the end of September to make a decision.”

He added that the £1,400 quoted by Western Power Distribution to provide the council with an electricity supply to its parking machines and public lighting at Woodmead car park should be paid.

The report highlighted that deferring the decision would allow the council time to gain a better understanding of public demand for the toilet provision at Woodmead car park, allow time to explore toilet re-provision options and then factor any decisions into the budget-setting process for 2017-18.

Following a previous meeting in March, chairman of Woodmead Halls Committee, Cllr Stan Williams, said the loss of toilet facilities for public is “regrettable” but as a registered charity run by volunteers it is not possible for the committee to subsidise the service.

Recommendations from the committee will be considered by the Full Council on May 4.