Borth’s two public toilets are at risk of closure following a Ceredigion County Council cost-cutting decision.

Ceredigion Council is hoping to shirk responsibility for all 33 of its public toilets, passing them onto town and community councils to take over.

However, this would mean the coastal village’s Community Council needs to find an extra £20,000 per year in its budget to keep what residents describe as “crucial” assets available to public and tourists alike.

Borth Council Chair Rona Dalton is looking at business sponsorship: “I strongly believe Borth needs to keep the two toilets open as they are a mile apart and the public including residents need them.

“I have a lot of support from other Borth councillors.”

The news came as a shock to County Councillor Hugh Hughes who believed public toilets to be a statutory obligation: “I think it’s a terrible shame to be losing public conveniences across the county, it should be a statutory responsibility.

“You hear about people who don’t go out because they have no access to toilets, I think it’s a retrograde step for public health for a whole host of reasons.

“Borth Council is considering options to keep the toilet provision and is currently negotiating how to do so.

“One concern is if we lose public toilet provision that could harm our blue flag status [an international award given to beaches that meet strict environmental, safety, and educational criteria].

“To put it in perspective, the running costs would double the community council precept [budget].

“It’s going to be a lot of hard work.”

Borth resident Helen Heron said: “In an area that’s a main tourist destination, I think it’s an insane decision to close the toilets.

“What do they think will happen if the toilets are closed?

“Surely it’s a basic public health requirement to keep them open?

“It will put people off coming and create problems for the cafes and pubs.

“It’s not just the visitors either, what about local people who rely on being able to use them when out and about?”

Nearby Aberystwyth Town Council agreed to saddle responsibility for their public toilets earlier this year.

Ceredigion is looking to ease its budget issues in part by addressing the huge financial loss the council faces by running public toilets - costing them roughly £300,000 per year to run, whilst receiving only £90,000 in income.

To address this they are hoping community councils will take on the responsibility of the toilets, as well as looking at increasing charges and finding avenues to decrease operational costs.

A spokesperson for Ceredigion County Council said: “ As part of this exercise, it has been explained that the council cannot afford to fund the provision as is and if support isn’t forthcoming, the council will have to consider closing public toilets.

“Meetings earlier in the year showed that some town and community councils were looking to support the provision of toilets, and we believe others will do so too.”

This comes as county councils across the UK relinquish responsibility for their public conveniences to residents, with nearby Machynlleth in Powys looking to get business sponsorship to keep their facilities open.

Over the last five years, the UK has lost 14 per cent of its public toilets.