COUNCILLORS are to look into the possibility of reopening public toilets in Bitton Park.

Following a request from member of the public Sheila Redclift, the issue of the toilets at Park Hill came up for discussion.

The toilets have been closed since 2003 when the then Teignmouth Town Council decided to 'reluctantly' close them.

Their decision followed a complete survey of every public toilet in Teignbridge carried out between 1994 and 1996 following concerns over the annual cost of keeping all existing toilets open.

Figures from that survey showed the Bitton Park toilet was used 13,505 times from 1997 to 1998, and cost £4,270 to run which equated to a cost per use of 32p.

In contrast, The Point toilets cost just nine pence per person.

However, following the request by Mrs Redclift, who stood for election to the town council in the May local elections, members of the finance and general purposes committee have agreed to carry out a feasibility study.

Mrs Redclift had made her request at the council's annual meeting and tried to add further points at Tuesday night's meeting.

However, she was told she was not able to add to her initial comments as she had not informed the town clerk of her wish to speak three days before the meeting.

Chairman of the finance and general purposes committee Cllr Sylvia Russell, who sat on the town council when the decision to close the toilets was made, explained that the running costs had been 'astronomic'.

Teignmouth Town Council now owns the toilet building which, members heard, needs a new roof whether it ever is reinstated as a toilet or not.

But Cllr David Cox pointed out: 'Technology has moved on a lot since this survey.

'Maybe we can explore what options are available. We should not just look at old costs.

'There are no public toilets in west Teignmouth and it would be nice to see some facilities.'

Cllr Vince Fusco agreed that he would like to see the toilets open but pointed out that the reality came down to the cost.

However, Cllr James McMurray said: 'I am concerned as I simply don't see how, in the current climate, this council can reopen these toilets.

'It was Teignbridge which closed them. We are stretched financially.'

Cllr Don Baldy added that the council was responsible for the building and needed to think about its future use.

Members agreed that even if the toilets could be reopened, they would still have to be closed at night because of 'serious' problems in the area in the evenings.

Cllr Russell explained that it had previously been suggested that half of the building could be used for storage and the other half as a unisex toilet.

It was agreed to set up a working party to look into the financial costs of reopening the toilet.