Cotswold town's public loos 'embarrassing'

The local councillor says the public toilets are embarrassing for the town

Civic chiefs in a Cotswold town say they are disgusted and embarrassed at the state of their public toilets.

The loos in Stow-on-the-Wold have faced numerous complaints lodged with the town council. After being saved from closure by Cotswold District Council last year, the toilets have been kept open but not in good condition.

Town councillor Ben Eddolls said they were "the worst they've ever seen" and said help was needed to restore the "embarrassing" loos to a good state.

The district council's health, culture and visitor experience cabinet member Paul Hodgkinson said he was taking the issue "very seriously" and the issue had been raised with the council's contractor.

On 24 September, Eddolls told a Cotswold District Council meeting that the state of the public toilets had caused unwanted attention and it was "embarrassing" for the town's reputation.

The toilets used to cost 1p, which has since been increased to 40p.

District councillor Paul Hodgkinson has apologised for the state of the loos

Hodgkinson continued: "When you spend 40p, you should at least have cleanliness and you should have clean toilets."

He added that although the toilets were currently cleaned three times a day, the high number of tourists due to recent good weather conditions meant more frequent cleaning had been needed.

He said the council needed to understand what they could do better and he would like to see the standards improving, raising the issue with the cleaning contractor.