Looe's loos set to charge 20p entry fee

Councillors hope the charges will help pay to manage the loos

Charges are being introduced to use the public toilets on the seafront of a town in Cornwall.

From the spring, users of Looe's loos will have to pay 20p fee - by card only - to use the facilities.

Looe Town Council said it cost more than £120,000 a year to manage the town's five sets of public toilets.

It said the income generated would be used to offset the cost of running them and to fund repairs and refurbishments at the sites.

Running costs

A 20p charge was successfully implemented at the Millpool toilets in Looe in 2021.

Looe Town Council also manages toilets near the Guildhall in East Looe, at West Looe Quay and at Hannafore sea front.

It said there were currently no plans to introduce entry fees at these sites.

Disabled toilets, accessible by RADAR key, are also available at all five sets of public conveniences in the town, free of charge.

Mayor of Looe Tony Smith defended the new charges.

"In an ideal world, we would all prefer to be able to continue to offer free use of public toilets in our town," he said.

"However, the cost of running these facilities amounts to more than a third of the council's budget."

He added: "We hope that both residents and visitors will soon begin to see improvements to our facilities made possible by the income generated by entry fees."

The new payment system will only accept cards

Toilet entry fees would be payable by card only so no cash would be stored at the sites and there would be no added cost for someone to collect and bank money, the council said.

One Looe visitor said having to pay to use the conveniences would not be an inconvenience.

"Most people carry plastic and it has to be financed somehow." he said.

"I don't mind paying 20p - I'm fine with that."

People living in Looe can buy a residents' card providing up to 30 toilet entries per month for a one-off fee of £5.