Okehampton Town Councillors suggested closing the Market Street toilets at a meeting (December 5) to curb ever-increasing expenses due to the cost of living crisis.

As councillors discussed the budget for the upcoming financial year (2023/2024), several suggested that the cost of maintaining the Market Street toilets was so high that the council might consider removing it from the budget.

Town councillor Christine Marsh, said: ‘The costs are now spiralling. It’s about £40,000 for the year and that’s including the electrics, the water and the rates.

‘We’ve got to keep our budget down whether we like it or not. We’ve got so many spiralling costs. We’ve got electrics, we’ve got insurance and our insurance has gone sky high. So we’re looking very carefully at still providing what we can.

‘Okehampton Town Council is not very big for what we have to provide for. It’s a very expensive small area, because it’s the centre of the town and we haven’t got any retail shops or anything like Tavistock have of course and that’s a drain on our budget.’

Councillors have argued that the closure of the toilets will have minimal impact on shoppers as the area around Market Street already has many toilets available for public use in nearby cafes and shops, such as Waitrose.

Cllr Marsh added: ‘When I’m out I think “Oh, I haven’t had a cup of coffee for a while” so I go into a cafe and say “Can I have a take away coffee?” or “I’ll have a coffee but I’m just going to the loo first” and then I’ll come back and sit down and drink my coffee. It’s a convenience for me because I can go to the toilet but also it’s getting a bit of business for the town. Other towns haven’t got endless public toilets.’

Okehampton Town Council own the land at Fairplace, including the public toilets but agreed to take on the costs of the toilets on Market Street, which are owned by West Devon Borough Council, when the borough council started to discuss closing them several years ago.

But as prices continue to rise, the council noted that it is finding itself forced to reconsider its expenditure and make cutbacks in order to ensure that it is still able to fund essential services for its residents.

At the parks committee meeting on Monday (December 5), the park keeper James McGahey pointed out that it was unnecessary for the council to continue to fund a verti-drain, which breaks up compacted soil, as it was not used frequently enough to warrant it.

For the coming financial year, the town council has also had to take into account its ongoing fundraising campaign to renovate the Charter Hall’s roof which is starting to leak and in desperate need of an improved ventilation system.

Since the cost of living crisis began, the council has estimated that the cost of the repair work will have doubled and is now trying to match the £250,000 originally set aside to cover the costs through its Sponsor a Slate initiative.

The initiative launched in October and invites residents to donate £10 towards a roof slate.

Cllr Marsh said: ‘We’ve got the Charter Hall and that’s really the equivalent of a village hall but because it’s not called a village hall and it’s attached to council offices, we can’t get grants for same way other places can because other village halls are usually owned by the community and they’ve got community group that run it.

‘So we’ve got a little bit of a difficulty then when we’re wanting to raise money, for the roof and the roof is essential.’

In order to reduce expenditure further the council has also agreed to reduce the civic functions budget to £1,000, not to add any funding to the Christmas Lights reserves and remove all funding towards the cost of the 2024 civic dinner.